Executive Director Lynne Walker leads journalism symposium in Guatemala

CITY — InquireFirst.org Executive Director Lynne Walker instructed a week-long series of journalism training symposiums in Guatemala in February — the first under our organization’s international journalism symposium program.

Reporters, editors, media owners and university students in Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango and Guatemala City attended the symposiums, which focused on new techniques for investigative journalism. The symposiums, held Feb. 7-13, were organized by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala.

Almost 700 journalists, university students and professors attended the investigative journalism sessions, which were instructed by Walker in Spanish. Among the subjects discussed were developing an investigative news story, interviewing sources and organizing and writing investigative stories.

Iris Pérez, a journalist with LaRed.com who attended Walker’s symposium at Universidad Mariano Gálvez in Guatemala City, said, “After your presentation, my perspective about journalism has changed.”

Walker was also interviewed by television and radio stations across the country about the importance of investigative journalism, freedom of expression and journalist safety. She stressed the need for in-depth reporting as the country strives to strengthen its democracy and engage its citizens in decisions that affect the future of their country.

The journalism training symposiums offered by InquireFirst aim to provide journalists in regions throughout the world with specialized training in investigative reporting that covers a wide range of subjects including corruption and organized crime, white collar fraud and the environment.

Walker is an experienced lecturer in Latin America on reporting techniques for journalists. For the past six years, she has offered week-long symposiums in Latin American countries including México, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Argentina.

At InquireFirst, Walker will lead the journalism symposium program which will be focused on offering training to journalists in Latín América, the Middle East and África as well as to university students who represent the next generation of journalists.