By: Pauline Millard Access is the secret ingredient in journalism that can make or break a story. Anyone can make phone calls from a desk, but going into the nooks and crannies of the field is what makes a story great.
Today I came across a multimedia project posted at FloridaToday.com. It looks into a program that sends teenagers from all over the country to
Zambia to offer shoes and spiritual guidance to the villages that have been ravaged by AIDS and malaria. The teenagers focus mostly on the children, who have been orphaned by the disease and can be lost without their parents.
Initially I feared it would be a newspaper version of the documentary, "Jesus Camp," but I would have been wrong. One of the biggest strengths of the project is how it shows what these teenagers go through to prepare for their trip and what life is like in sub-Saharan Africa. Here's a hint: It's rural and it looks really hot.
No mention of this project would be complete without talking about the amazing video and photography that is at the heart of it. Craig Rubadoux was the photographer on the project and he scored some amazing shots of the Zambians in the village, greeting the Americans and even in a funeral procession.
Overall, I really enjoyed the level of access that Rubadoux and his partner, John A. Torres landed. I think it's great that they followed the story all the way to Zambia and weren't afraid to shoot everything around them, even if it was a funeral or the cleaning of a grizzly foot sore on a young boy. There are print stories that accompany the project, but the images online get the message across in the most robust way possible.
Here are some of my past Picks:
'Miami Herald' Looks Into
Low-Income HousingBakersfield.com Uses a
Special Section For Murder Case Coverage
LATimes.com Looks At
The Health Of Our Oceans
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