News and views from the South for the South
The overall number of SciDev.Net news stories published in 2006 increased only slightly, but the proportion of these contributed by Southern journalists rose significantly.
In 2006 we aimed to consolidate our news coverage, both geographically and in terms of the topics covered. We gave particular emphasis to regional news stories.
Monthly average
News stories by freelancers from each region 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Southern contributors Percentage of articles written
Daily news coverage lies at the heart of SciDev.Net’s website. Our high standard of journalism is one of our greatest strengths in providing authoritative articles from a growing network of journalists in the developing world.
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 2005
10 0
2006 News
Features
Opinions
In recognition of our coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami and its aftermath, SciDev.Net’s news team won the Association of British Science Writers prize for “best science journalism on the world wide web”. And SciDev.Net’s director won the “award for meritorious achievement” from the US-based Council of Science Editors. 2005 2006 Latin America & Caribbean
SubSaharan Africa
China
Middle East & North Africa
South Asia
South East Asia
“During this year the articles received from SciDev.Net have formed the largest source of ideas for my [Swahili radio] programme.” Peter Musembi, producer, BBC World Service, United Kingdom
Opinions published in 2006 also drew much attention from Southern and Northern audiences alike. For example, Kazhila Chinsembu’s article urging African nations to regain control of local resources and Arnoldo Ventura’s piece negating the need for the Cartagena Protocol resulted in floods of correspondence and follow-up articles. All SciDev.Net content is free to reproduce providing the source and author are credited.