The latest episode of iWitness, a new web series from FRONTLINE/World, spotlights a journalist working to expose human rights abuses in Zimbabwe—where practicing journalism “has become a crime punishable by death.” The woman, who is not named and does not appear on camera to protect her identity, talks to series curator Joe Rubin by phone about some of the most striking experiences she has had reporting in Zimbabwe during Mugabe’s fight to maintain power—a dangerous time for anyone who publicly criticizes him and his party.

iWitness launched in June 2008 on FRONTLINE/World’s website:

The idea for iWitness grew out of a sense that we wanted to expand our network of voices from around the world and to respond more quickly to events, especially dramatic situations.

Reaching people in countries such as Iran or Burma via web cam provides an immediate and powerful storytelling tool. We’ll be checking in mid story with our regular reporters, but we will also be connecting directly with activists and artists, doctors and teachers, even avatars reporting from virtual communities, such as Second Life.

>> Visit the FRONTLINE/World iWitness site to watch videos and learn more.

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Carrie Ching

Carrie Ching is an award-winning, independent multimedia journalist and producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For six years, she led digital storytelling projects at the Center for Investigative Reporting as senior multimedia producer. Her multimedia reports have been featured by NPR.org, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, Grist, Time.com, Fast Company, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, KQED, PBS NewsHour, Salon.com, Mother Jones, Public Radio International, Poynter, Columbia Journalism Review and many other publications. Her specialty is crafting digital narratives and exploring ways to use video, audio, photography, animation and interactive graphics to push the boundaries of storytelling on the Web, tablets and mobile. Her work has been honored with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Best of the West, the Online News Association, Scripps Howard, The Gracies, and was part of the entry in a Pulitzer-finalist project. Prior to her time at CIR she was a magazine and book editor, video journalist, newspaper reporter and TV comedy scriptwriter. She was on the 2010 Eddie Adams Workshop faculty as a multimedia producer working with MediaStorm to teach digital storytelling techniques to photojournalists. She completed a master’s degree in journalism at UC Berkeley in 2005.