EJN Selects 14 Lower Mekong Journalists for Infrastructure Reporting Fellowship Through STRIDES Project

As Southeast Asia continues its rapid economic growth, the region faces a pivotal challenge: balancing infrastructure development with environmental preservation. To achieve this balance, EJN’s STRIDES project launched two grant opportunities in February 2024 to strengthen reporting on the ecological consequences of the ever-growing transportation networks, energy facilities, and resource demands.  

First, STRIDES launched the Journalist Fellowship, selecting 14 experienced environmental journalists from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia to work with EJN staff, academics, and veteran journalists to analyze relevant infrastructure financial incentives and regulatory frameworks, and learn how to incorporate new tools in their reporting.  

The selected journalists are: 

• Kann Vicheika, Cambodia, (Voice of America (Khmer Service)) 
• Try Thaney, Cambodia, freelance journalist  
• Pipope Panitchpakdi, Thailand (Thai PBS World) 
• Siripannee Supratya, Thailand, freelance journalist 
• Socheata Hean, Cambodia, freelance journalist  
• Nguyễn Quỳnh Chi, Vietnam (Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper)   
• Le Dinh Tuyen, Vietnam (Thanh Nien Newspaper) 
• Nehru Pry, Cambodia, freelance journalist  
• Ekaphone Phouthonesy, Laos (Vientiane Times) 
• Pongpan Chumjai, Thailand (Prachatai) 
• Bunchhai Chhun, Cambodia, freelance journalist  
• Keat Soriththeavy, Cambodia, freelance journalist 
• Quach Thi Kieu Mai, Vietnam (The LEADER) 
• Undisclosed*, Laos 

Note: Per their request, we are protecting the anonymity of fellows reporting from sensitive regions. 

In February, the journalists first convened online for a 10-hour intensive training led by experts from EarthRights International, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to examine the financial incentives and regulatory frameworks driving and constraining infrastructure development throughout the region. Fellows reported finding new angles for their stories, including lack of community participation in the Environmental Impact Assessments for Thailand’s proposed land bridge. EJN and Stimson Center staff then trained fellows on practical applications of artificial intelligence and the Stimson Center Mekong Infrastructure Tracker to enhance the scope, detail, and quality of their stories. Prior to the training, journalists reported little understanding of how such tools could enhance their work, but subsequently reported multiple ways they could use these tools.  

On March 12 and 13, the journalists convened in Bangkok, Thailand to meet with security experts and EJN staff and mentors, during which they learned physical and digital security practices and refined their story ideas in collaboration with their mentors, incorporating the skills they learned to refine their story focuses.  

In April, the 14 journalists will be awarded story grants to report on the projects in bustling urban centers and remote rural communities. At the same time, STRIDES will tailor existing Reporters Resources to the contexts the STRIDES journalists will be working in, while also creating new tools based on the needs they identified during the training. These tools will be rolled out in the coming months.  

The fellows will also be paired with mentors with regional and thematic expertise, who will provide editorial and thematic support throughout the story grant process. Working with their mentors and equipped with new tools STRIDES will develop, they will report on a wide range of topics, including alternative renewable energy solutions and infrastructure-induced population displacement in Cambodia, transportation networks and foreign debt in Laos, public transportation in Bangkok and the development of a new land bridge in southern Thailand, and sand depletion and the efficacy of irrigation systems in Vietnam. 

“The journalists were all very enthusiastic about pursuing their stories, especially after being equipped with new tools to improve their data collection and analysis abilities,” STRIDES Manager Philip Gassert said. 

“They also remain clear-eyed about the challenges they will face in bringing these stories to light. We’re very lucky to have a talented and experienced cohort for this fellowship. We’re very optimistic they will advance our collective goal of raising both the public awareness of infrastructure projects and crucially, also improving communities’ participation in these projects across the region,” he added.

In addition to the Journalism Fellowship, STRIDES also announced a grant program for media outlets and civil society to similarly improve media content and train journalists. Just as the Journalist Fellowship is training a cohort of journalists, media grant recipients will not only produce their own stories but also include capacity building activities that foster greater collaboration, enhanced networks, and increased access to information and resources for journalists. The selected organizations will be announced in the coming months.  

Through STRIDES, EJN is partnering with organizations in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. STRIDES will partner with journalists in several other countries in the region and aims to produce dozens of stories on salient issues that haven’t grabbed international headlines.  

Look out for more information on the media grantees and the fellows’ stories on the EJN website later this year. 

Banner image: In March, the selected fellows participated in a training workshop in Thailand to refine their story ideas / Credit: EJN.