Journalists for Human Rights Podcast

Two years after her first visit, host Lisa LaFlamme returns to the Greenland School for Teenage Mothers in rural Kenya to witness an extraordinary transformation. What began with 70 students has grown to over 200 young mothers and their babies, spread across seven schools nationwide. Co-directors Purity Sekikunda and Samuel Mokiliya share how a simple newspaper article, written by a journalist tra...

In this episode of the JHR Podcast, host Lisa LaFlamme travels to Juba, South Sudan with Journalists for Human Rights to meet the man everyone calls when digital disaster strikes: Nelson Kwaje. From battling life-threatening disinformation to helping victims of online abuse reclaim their accounts and their dignity, Nelson is the force behind South Sudan’s most trusted digital safety tools, 211 Che...

In this special Pride Month episode recorded live at the Allied Music Centre, host Lisa LaFlamme joins Kenyan journalist/activist Kevin Mwachiro and Xtra Magazine Managing Editor Tara-Michelle Ziniuk for a powerful conversation about LGBTQ2S+ media representation across continents. With honesty and humour, they explore media’s role in shaping public understanding of LGBTQ2S+ rights -- examining wh...

In this episode of the JHR podcast, Lisa LaFlamme speaks with award-winning investigative journalist Maura Ajak in Juba, South Sudan. Maura shares the story behind  her powerful BBC documentary  Poisoned Floods , which exposes the devastating impact of oil pollution in Unity State’s Bento displacement camp where contaminated soil and water have led to severe health crises, including birth defects....

On a recent trip to Nairobi, Lisa LaFlamme sat down with journalists Patricia Andago, lead researcher for the Silencing Women Project that has tracked femicide in Kenya since 2016, and Janet Mbugua, a renowned media personality, host of Fixing the Nation, and founder of the Inua Dada Foundation. Together, they painted a stark picture of Kenya’s ongoing fight against femicide. In 2024, the country...

In this special International Women's Day episode, host Lisa LaFlamme speaks with two inspiring Journalists for Human Rights team members – Winnie Syombua from Kenya and Mary Goch from South Sudan – who defied deeply patriarchal systems to become powerful champions for women's rights. Mary recounts her remarkable journey from a refugee camp where girls walked 10 kilometers to school after...

On this special Valentine’s Day episode of the JHR Podcast, we shine a light on a bold movement defying societal norms in India -- the India Love Project. Launched on Instagram by journalists Priya Ramani, Samar Halarnkar and Niloufer Venkatraman, this initiative documents and celebrates inter-faith, inter-caste, and LGBTQ+ love stories in a country where such relationships often face intense scru...

In this powerful episode of the  Journalists for Human Rights  podcast, host Lisa LaFlamme speaks with veteran Palestinian journalist Walid Batrawi about the immense challenges of reporting from Gaza. With over 30 years of experience, Walid shares firsthand accounts of the dangers journalists face – from targeted attacks to media repression – and the devastating loss of colleagues on the frontline...

In this episode of the Journalists for Human Rights podcast, Belarusian pro-democracy activist, former Deputy Foreign Minister, and 2010 presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov shares his insights on the fight for democracy and press freedom in Belarus. This timely discussion, recorded ahead of the January 26th presidential election, unpacks the enduring challenges posed by Alexander Lukashenko’s a...

In this special live-recorded episode of the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) podcast, Lisa LaFlamme hosts an extraordinary conversation marking the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Joined by Hanna Liubakova, a Belarusian journalist and Kiran Nazish, founder of the Coalition for Women in Journalism, this episode explores the increasing violence and targeted attacks against wome...

As Syria embarks on a new chapter following the collapse of the Assad regime, journalists and human rights advocates reflect on the nation’s path forward. In this episode, JHR’s President Rachel Pulfer sits down with Zein Almoghraby, JHR's Director of International Programs to discuss the journey of Syrian journalists during the civil war, the impact of media in shaping democracy, and the hope for...

How are Filipino journalists faring under a new administration? As the journalism industry faces news avoidance, distrust from audiences, and decreased reach worldwide, reporters themselves grapple with media closures, low pay, and even threats to their lives. 2024 Nieman Fellow Jaemark Tordecilla and communication consultant Mika Ortega join us in the Season 1 finale to reflect on these challenge...

Red-tagging is one of the biggest threats Filipino journalists face today. In 2018, the Duterte administration created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which, along with the Anti-Terror Law, has been deployed against government critics, including the media. Len Olea of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and Rhea Padilla of the AlterMidya...

Radio and online journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was 21 years old when she was arrested by the police who accused her of being part of the Communist movement in the Philippines. She had been reporting on human rights abuses in remote areas in Tacloban City, hundreds of kilometers away from the nation’s capital. After four years, she finally took the witness stand on 11 November to defend herself. H...

Producer Tricia Aquino introduces the Philippines and its media landscape through interviews with veteran journalists Lourdes Fernandez and Rowena Paraan. Follow the story of the local press across several decades, from the Marcos dictatorship where many reporters were killed, imprisoned, tortured, or became victims of enforced disappearances, to the more recent Maguindanao massacre, where 32 jour...

Veteran journalists Lourdes Fernandez and Rowena Paraan join us in Episode 3 to shed light on two of the darkest periods for the Philippine press, and how it has fought to uphold its duty of reporting the truth. Subscribe now and hear the episode first on 8 November.

When disinformation spreads faster than facts, how can democracy thrive? Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa talks about the beginnings of media company Rappler as social media first showed promise as a new avenue for journalism, and the mounting challenges she and Rappler have faced in the age of social media's decline—from the propagation of lies, to lawsuits from the Philippine government and...

In our next episode, Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa talks about co-founding media company Rappler and its place in the early days of social media, and how she and the company have weathered the decline of social media and the Philippines' institutions. Subscribe now to catch the episode on 18 October.

JHR Executive Director Bill Killorn and Filipina journalist Tricia Aquino join host Lisa LaFlamme to talk about the state of journalism around the globe and look back on JHR's visit to the Philippines in November 2023, which inspired the first season of this podcast. On this trip, Lisa and Bill met journalists and human rights advocates during the anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre—the deadli...

In this all-new podcast from Journalists for Human Rights, hosted by veteran journalist Lisa LaFlamme, we celebrate the power of journalism as a force for change all over the world. Subscribe now to hear the first episode on October 1.