Journalists and citizens from throughout Central America are coming together to discuss the "urgent" issues facing the region as part of the 2011 Central American Forum on Journalism, organized by the Salvadoran digital newspaper El Faro, or The Lighthouse. The forum got underway Monday, May 16, and will continue through Saturday, May 21, in San Salvador, El Salvador.
The forum will feature specialized workshops for print, broadcast, photo, and multi-media journalists, as well as public sessions with citizen participation and input from international specialists who deal with security issues. In addition, the week of activities will include cultural events for the public, such as concerts, expositions and theater productions.
The conference opened with a presentation from Edgardo Buscaglia, an expert in organized crime and U.N. consultant, speaking on "Organized Crime from the Financial and Corporate Perspective." Also as part of the opening events, renowned Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui will interview, live, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes.
Other sessions throughout the week will include discussions on WikiLeaks and citizens' right to information, covering high-risk stories, and photojournalism ethics, and film viewings, such as of the documentary "El Cielo Abierto," or "Clear Skies," about Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero.
A traveling documentary film festival, Ambulante 2011, continues after the forum, through Friday, May 27.
The Forum proceedings can be followed via Twitter at #Foro2011.
This blog is produced at The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
