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IRPTube uploaded a new video
(1 day ago)
GOJEK is the first motorcycle taxi and courier service in Jakarta, Indonesia. Its founders think the start-up could help fix the city's notorious t...
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GOJEK is the first motorcycle taxi and courier service in Jakarta, Indonesia. Its founders think the start-up could help fix the city's notorious traffic problems.
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 11 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Indonesia May 6-20, 2011, to learn more about this important country in Asia.
Video by Jacob Templin for the International Reporting Project (IRP).
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IRPTube uploaded a new video
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The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about...
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The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about this important country.
The Gatekeepers concluded their trip by meeting with Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, to talk about the tiny but complex Central African country. In this excerpt, the president fields questions about laws restricting the freedom of the press in Rwanda.
"Rwanda has been ranked poorly not because it should be ranked poorly," Kagame commented, adding that the country's poor media freedom rankings are "unfair" and "an injustice" at times.
"If I were the one to decide entirely on these issues," he continued, "nobody would be punished for criticizing the President. . . . I wouldn't even have issue with anybody writing things about me at all."
"I'm not a prosecutor, I'm not in charge of the court of law," the president said. "I have let these things run their course. . . . It doesn't have to come from me."
"It keeps improving," Kagame says. "But there is no other impediment to media development in this country."
Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo—who, as the former minister in charge of media, has taken part of the discussion about how to improve laws about media—comments that "There is sort of a soul-searching going on in how to improve both professionalism, respect our law and push our media to go a bit higher than where it is today."
Mushikiwabo concluded, "We should allow time going with the maturing of our media, and then decide whether it should be now a civil offense or remain a criminal offense. But this is an area that is evolving. And the issues—the more the issues of defamation disappear in our media, the more people may be inclined to make it a civil offense."
Audio excerpt by Rebecca Davis and Melody Wilson. Photos by Amy Hollyfield and the office of Paul Kagame.
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IRPTube uploaded a new video
(1 week ago)
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about...
more
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about this important country.
The Gatekeepers concluded their trip by meeting with Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, to talk about the tiny but complex Central African country. In this excerpt, the president insists that he "will not be around as President come 2017."
"I did not want to be President," he said. "I am not the President just because of privilege or anything that people may associate with the position. I am President because circumstances propelled me into that." He continued, "But it's not something I am dying for. I cannot be here and say I must be President for life."
Audio excerpt by Rebecca Davis and Melody Wilson. Photos by Tom Paulson, John Schidlovsky, Sue Horton, Amy Hollyfield, Louise Lief, Nicholas Aster, and the office of Paul Kagame.
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IRPTube uploaded a new video
(1 week ago)
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about...
more
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about this important country.
The Gatekeepers concluded their trip by meeting with Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, to talk about the tiny but complex Central African country. In this excerpt, the president discusses his country's vague laws prohibiting "divisionism" and "genocide ideology."
Kagame explains that outside reports from groups such as Transparency International and World Bank about Rwanda's levels of transparency and democratic governance often affect the reader's perception of freedom in Rwanda.
In one report, Kagame notes, the author begins by saying, "Although undemocratic, 84% of Rwandans talk about how they are free," ultimately concluding that the country is democratic and free. "They fail to understand," Kagame says, "if the finding is this, why would you start by prejudicing the reader?"
"Where do you get it from?" the leader asks. "How do you want me to address that? I'm addressing the issues with Rwandans and with Rwanda. Now, you either believe what you see, or you have something else you want to believe on your own, I don't know where you get it from, and I cannot be responsible for that. How do I convince? This is where the problem is."
Audio excerpt by Rebecca Davis and Melody Wilson. Photo by John Schidlovsky.
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IRPTube uploaded a new video
(1 week ago)
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about...
more
The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about this tiny but complex Central African country.
The Gatekeepers concluded their trip by meeting with Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda. In this excerpt, the president discusses the possibility of another genocide occurring in Rwanda.
"I don't think there would be such a danger in the future," the president said, citing changing conditions of the the quality of life for Rwandans: "the people of Rwanda, their psychology and politics have completely changed."
"Genocide here did not happen by accident," he explained. "It's something that has its roots back some decades--a mix of colonial history and poor management of our own society and politics."
However, by building better governance institutions and by making sure that Rwandans are better educated, Rwanda has changed so much that another genocide seems unlikely, Kagame reasoned.
Audio excerpt by Rebecca Davis and Melody Wilson. Photos by Ed Robbins, Nicholas Aster, Sue Horton, Tom Paulson and Rebecca Davis.
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