Malaysia Citizen Journalists and our Handbook

When a citizen journalist trainer in Malaysia inquired about presenting a copy of our book, “Handbook for Citizen Journalists,” to each person attending their training session, my co-author and I wanted to make it happen.

Their event was imminent so shipping the books from the USA to Malaysia was not possible. I Googled “digital printers Malaysia” and contacted the one that looked best and sent in a request for a bid with information about the deadline. The printer responded immediately and after several exchanges of emails, the deal was done.

The printer printed and packed 200 books for Maran Perianen, a trainer of Malaysian citizen journalists, just in time for his weekend conference.

"The citizen journalists were impressed with the book," Perianen, told us by e-mail.

"I also plan to give the book in my future training for their reference," said Perianen, who also is the program director for an online news agency, Malaysiakini.

Malaysiakini, with the assistance of Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists, has successfully conducted almost 70 workshops across Malaysian and has trained more than 350 citizen journalists, according to Perianen.

As the result of this training, Perianen said, the citizen journalists have successfully produced more than 1,500 news videos and almost 1,000 news articles.

"These stories have triggered significant reactions from many individuals, organizations and the government itself."

My co-author, Susan Carson Cormier, and I are pleased the citizen journalists will be using the "Handbook for Citizen Journalists'' as a resource guide. We truly believe that the information, motivation and training they will receive from the handbook will help them in their future endeavors.

And, of course, Susan and I both want to congratulate the Malaysian journalists for their work and wish them continued success.

You can visit the Malaysian website at www.cj.my.