ALUMNI CORNER

Eduardo Franco Berton, founder of Red Ambiental de Información in Bolivia, has been recognized with an Honorable Mention by the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) for his environmental investigation, “Poaching Threatens South America’s Only Bear Species,” which was published by National Geographic in 2019.
Eduardo was first introduced to National Geographic editors by a speaker he met during our InquireFirst Science Journalism Workshop in 2018. The SEJ judges, in recognizing Eduardo’s work, said, “The journalist traveled thousands of miles and worked undercover to talk with bear hunters, shamans and government officials who, because of inadequate budgets and understaffing, are virtually powerless to stop the killing of South America’s only bear species.”

Saúl Martínez, a reporter and photographer at El Imparcial in Mexicali, Baja California says the contacts he made during InquireFirst’s February 2020 Environmental Investigative Journalism Workshop in Mérida, México have helped him expand his regional science and environmental network as he works on in-depth projects on the urgent issues of science, health and the environment.
Based on a field visit to Celestún during our InquireFirst workshop, Saúl published a story on July 26, UNESCO’s International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. Read Saúl’s story.

Gabriela Minjares, an investigative journalist who is co-founder of La Verdad de Juárez in Ciudad Juárez, México, reports that her news organization received a grant in June 2019 from the International Center for Journalists which is providing seed funding and technical assistance to develop new business models to ensure the economic sustainability of La Verdad de Juárez.
Gabriela credits InquireFirst’s February 2019 Transparency and Investigative Reporting Workshop with providing her with new ideas which she and her colleagues included in their successful grant proposal.