Some Simple Tips to Keep You On Your Game.

-You may find that people talk more off record. Get to know your subject when you aren’t interviewing them. Take them out for coffee or talk to them before/after the interview. Some people really open up once you put your gear down.

-Don’t expect everything to go perfectly. With audio and recording equipment there is always margin for error and things to go wrong.

-When interviewing, don’t read all of your questions straight from the page. Try and just hold a conversation with the subject. Maybe right down one or two words on each line to keep you on track, but don’t read to them from your notebook.

-If your subject takes the material in a new direction, go with it! Unless they veer off into some odd or queer direction, going with what the subject is talking about makes the whole interview more organic and natural.

-No ‘yes or no’ questions.

-Make sure that you need to get the information that you came for. You are the interviewer and have the power to steer your subject in the right direction if need be, even if that means interrupting them.

A list of tips, techniques and information to help with multimedia projects.

-Create ’seamless’ layers of audio to layer over your video. Dead space and silence can be distracting to your audience.

-Audio can add something to your story that words cannot. Although journalism started in print, actual audio  can bring something extra to your work. An example would be a quote. To actually hear a person in a quote is much more real than reading words printed on a page.

-Pictures and sound slides can be an even more powerful tool than video. The reason being that some things cannot be captured as uniquely or as powerfully as in a photograph. An example would be a flash of lightening. If you have a video of lightening, it only lasts a second and is gone, but a picture can be looked at for any given  amount of time. It lets us look at something that is typically not still.

-It may be easier when working with sound slides to edit the audio first and then put pictures with the audio.
“I definitely encourage everyone to explore sound as a way to help tell the stories they’re trying to tell,” Connelley says. “We’re no longer in the medium of just still photography. It’s extremely powerful to be using audio, using video, and using graphics to tell a story. Audio just brings a story to life.” -Mr. Connelley (professional photojournalist).

-Using audio and video can keep more people’s attention for a longer period of time because it is a visual way of conveying your story.

-Maps and graphs can be made easily on many well known sites including Google and Yahoo. Maps are great for letting your audience know the route of a storm or their favorite bands’ tour.

-The core of your work is always the story. Whether you choose to tell it  through video, audio, pictures or a combination of these, these are just the medium through which your story is told. Don’t let the medium take over your story.

-’Layering‘ lots of information can help to keep your audience’s attention. One way to do this is to provide links to another page that has more information. On that page can be another link to another page and so on. This keeps all the information from being cluttered on one page.

-Don’t assume that because your topic is obvious, that the angle is as well. Try and find a unique angle.

-After finding a unique angle, figure out which medium could best tell the story.

See Your Favorite Band Live and Save a Life. What’s Not to Love?

The next time you see your favorite band in concert you can also help save a life. Yes, you heard right. It is called [Red] Nights, and it is combining Project Red with a live musical tour. Twenty-six cities across the Nation will host the event, and it’s expected to bring in more money than any other Project Red event in history. Live Nation is helping Red with this event, but what exactly is Live Nation?

Rapino is the CEO of Live Nation.

“Our core business is producing, marketing and selling live concerts for artists via our global concert pipe. Live Nation is the largest producer of live concerts in the world, annually producing over 22,000 concerts for 1,600 artists in 33 countries”, said a representative for Live Nation. Based out of Beverly Hills, California, Live Nation is a live concert promotion business headed by Michael Rapino. They own venues all over the world and are one of the biggest promoters in the world. Being one of the biggest promoters in the world, Live Nation also works with some of the largest musical acts in the world. Red and Live Nation together have gotten together 26 bands for [Red] Nights, and will use Live Nation’s venues across the Nation to host them.

The bands participating in the 26 night tour all put aside one night of their personal tour and turned it into a [Red] Nights concert. Proceeds from these special nights go towards Africa, and anti-retroviral treatments given out by Project Red and Global Fund. The bands that have signed onto the tour so far are: The Veronicas, Santigold, Katy Perry, O.A.R., Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects. The dates that have been announced are: The Veronicas on June 12th, Santigold on June 18th, Katy Perry on July 28th and O.A.R. on August 13th and 14th. The rest of the bands will be announcing their dates in the next month. Most of the bands have commented on the tour already showing great enthusiasm and support for what Red and Live Nation are doing.

“I believe no person deserves to suffer from a preventable, treatable disease simply because they can’t afford medicine. If bringing awareness to what (RED) is doing helps one person receive antiretroviral treatment and live a healthy life, we have accomplished our goal”, said Marc Roberge of O.A.R. In hopes of connecting the fans with bands even more there are websites that are being made, some which have additional information and contact information for fans interested in going to [Red] Nights.

Bono is a founder of Project Red, as well as the lead singer of the band U2.

[Red] Wire is a new magazine that is being launched by Project Red. An electronic magazine, as well as a deliverable to your house, Wire is something that is also being started by Project Red and is going to be combined with [Red] Nights. Wire has a roster of large world-wide acts that perform and raise money for Africa. Some of these large artists include: U2, Coldplay, The Killers, Jay-Z and TV On the Radio. These artists have agreed to help on the tour, by playing on some of the specific dates that are listed. The hopes are that when larger acts join a big bill with artists such as Fall Out Boy, the turnout of fans will be larger than usual. “(RED)NIGHTS and (RED)WIRE mark the first time (RED) has moved into the music arena and are a mutual extension of (RED)’s mission, whereby the music community is coming together as a vehicle to raise awareness and funds to help fight AIDS in Africa.” Artists such as Coldplay and U2 are world-wide sellout performers by themselves. There’s no doubt within Project Red, Live Nation or any other organization involved, that these concerts will sellout.

Beyond a fun night however, the aim of the [Red] Night tour is much higher. The plan for the future is to continue doing these Red concerts every year, and to raise more money each year. In order to do this, a fan-base must be built. Through years of continuing tours and concerts through Project Red and Live Nation, it will gain popularity and more people will attend as the years go on.

“(RED) was looking to engage more people in its mission, to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. The [Red] Night series is an innovative concept that combines the power of Live Nation’s live music platform and venues to use people’s passion for music to raise awareness and, ultimately, generate more money to help eliminate AIDS in Africa”, said Russell Wallach, President of North American Alliances. Wallach was promoted to President of North American Alliances last year and is trying to combine Red and North American Alliance efforts more frequently. “We’re building a great line up of artists for [Red] Nights, and believe we can help (RED) successfully deliver its message by connecting them with music fans all over the country,’” he said.

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There’s a First for Everything

Project Red has begun something this week that it has never done before — a roadtrip. Red, along with Global Fund, has decided to take a tour around the country to several of their partners including Starbucks, Apple and GAP.

The money raised by Red’s partners is directly sent to the Global Fund who then directly distributes it to Africa. This means that Red never sees the money, and never see their affiliates either. This broken connection between Red and its affiliates is what fueled the start of the road trip.

“It was inspiring to have our partners meet the Global Fund face to face and get to talk about what (RED) money is doing on the ground and how we can all maximize our efforts to ensure the highest contribution levels to the Global Fund, and ultimately to those people living with HIV in Africa”, said Red in an official statement regarding the first days of the trip.

One of the creators of Global Fund, Christoph Benn, spoke at a stop in the tour. Everyone there was treated to his story of how he knew he wanted to fight HIV/AIDS growing up. His official title is Director of External Relations and Partnerships. A physician with a major in public relations, Benn has seen the tragedies in Africa first hand. He used to work in Tanzania as a doctor in the 1980’s. This job, coupled with his passions, is what pushed Benn to help create

Christoph Benn

Global fund. He was part of the original board that started it all. “Christoph’s story of seeing firsthand what the AIDS pandemic has done to people in Africa and how important ARV’s and (RED) money is today was incredibly motivating and energizing for me, personally, and for our partners. We at (RED) are so grateful to have him on our team”, said Red board member Jen.

At the start of Global Fund in 2002, United Nation’s Secretary General Kofi Annan pushed not only for the creation of Global Fund but for the opportunity for poor countries to treat and inform others of problems the country has. These two ideas were the fundementals that helped to create Red and Global Fund.

These newly formed bonds between Red and its affiliates have opened the communication within our own country. The communication between Red and Africa has been wide open, but the communication in our own country was withering.

This is a gentle reminder to us all that sometimes when we want to improve, it starts at home.

Global Fund Reaches Record Numbers In the Last Few Weeks

It has been reported in the last several days, that Global Fund and Project Red have been hitting record numbers as far as getting treatment to those who need it in Africa. HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis are all diseases that are being treated as of right now.

Global Fund reported that since the beginning of last year, another 1.75 million people infected with the HIV virus have been treated. Compared to last year, this is a staggering 59 percent increase. This means that Global Fund and Project Red has more than doubled their outreach for those in need of HIV treatment. This is truly great news to hear.

In the fight against Malaria, 59 million more bed-nets have been delivered to families that do not have them. Bed-nets are somewhat like mosquito masks, but instead of protecting just your face they protect your entire bed. A large net is draped around the bed and the sleeper is then protected from any outside threats carrying the virus. Mostly mosquitos carry the virus, and are too large to get inside the bed-nets. The number of these nets delivered has increased by 98 percent.

The World Health Organizations, UNAIDS and UNICEF all had a meeting last week. Their findings are that currently, there are 3 million people being treated for AIDS in Africa. Of these 3 million, 60 percent of them are getting their prescription pills and treatments through Global Fund and Project Red. Twenty percent of international funding for AIDS programs are given by Global Fund, as well as 66 percent for tuberculosis and 75 percent for malaria.

“These new results are a testament to the hard work of our partners and the millions of health workers on the ground who work tirelessly day in day out to make sure that Global Fund resources are put to best use,” said Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. Rajat Gupta, the Chair of the Global Fund Board, also commented on the statistics and said, “These figures are the living proof that Global Fund resources are a major driving force in the global fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.”

This coming Wednesday, the Global Fund as well as Project Red, are launching an advocacy project. The project is called Access to Life, and it will highlight all of the benefits that the funds generated in Africa. It will use the mediums of video, pictures and text to tell the story of 34 people from nine countries. The stories start as they begin their treatments, giving facts and statistics on the fight of specific diseases. Access to Life is opening this Wednesday in the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. and is set to tour several other cities across the world.

Hopefully these statistics are not the last rise in numbers we will see as the fight for Africa rages on.

Hope For the Nameless and Invisible Children

This weekend an event is happening that is so large, it will take 100 of our nation’s cities to host it. Close to 70,000 people have signed up for it, and it’s this weekend – that’s right, this weekend.

The Rescue is an event hosted by Invisible Children and sponsored by Project Red’s affiliates. It is the second event to be hosted, after the first which was called ‘Displace Me.’ <!–[if !mso]> <! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } –> Invisible Children was founded and exists for the soul purpose of shedding light on the war in Uganda, a war that has children at its frontline as slaves. Displace Me was focused on the effort of alerting everyone to encampments in Uganda that housed those who were placed there forcefully. It’s slavery. Many smaller attempts had been made before Displace Me, but this was the big event that everyone knew about. College students were mainly attracted to this, although people of all ages attended. Displace me was an event that mainly focused on the encampments that many of the citizens in Africa were forced into.

Back in the 1800’s when Brittain ‘colonized’ Africa, they were more leniant and  gave jobs and education to the south of Uganda, while the north was forced to labor and work. After independance from Britain, the north rebelled because of the way they were treated and attacked. Since then, the north and south have been in war in Uganda. Yoweri Museveni, a rebel leader in the south, came to power in 1986. The north rebelled this leader, and a boy rose to power in the north. His name was Joseph Kony, and he began what was still known as the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army).

Kony claimed to have special religous powers, and that whoever follows him will join in success. The LRA aimed to take down Museveni, but was never successful. Museveni is now the president of Uganda. Over the years, Kony’s people lost faith in him and his resistance had a falling out. He began to attack his own people, brutally killing many. He is still in a high power until this day and has begun abducting people to fight in his army. These aren’t normal people however, they are children. In the passed two decades alone, Kony has abducted over 30,000 children in order to fight for his resistance.

In 1996, Museveni had his people congregate into little towns called ‘camps’ for safety. At first they had a positive affect, but after a while many more people continued filing into the camps, and they are now overcrowded. Conditions have become so bad that 1,000 people die a week because of how unsafe and dirty it is.

The Rescue is a calling to help the child soldiers that are being abducted. The 30,000 invisible children that have been forgotten by many, because there is no record of their names that is kept. They are nameless children fighting a war they didn’t start. It needs to stop. It began with Displace Me, and it can end with The Rescue.

With a little help, Rwanda Fights to Stand Up on Both Feet Once Again

Project Red and Global Fund have no problem helping those in need. In fact, since the beginning of the organizations in 2005, it is estimated that 3.5 million lives have been saved. This is astounding and the numbers keep climbing. Perhaps the only news that can top this however, is the news of African countries finally getting back on their own two feet. The country of Rwanda, along with some help from America, is doing just that.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is putting forth more efforts to stabilizing Rwanda financially and socially. Rwanda is a major recipient of Project Red funds. 500,000 pregnant women have been treated there alone. Genocide is a major problem that has stricken the country for over the past 15 years. It is their hope that financial stability will also bring about more peace socially throughout the country.

It’s becoming more apparent that HIV/AIDS is not strictly caused by a low-health lifestyle. Poverty is the cause of a lot of health issues in Africa. Instead of just treating the health issue, the poverty issue can be treated as well. As mind staggering as it is, 90% of adults living in Rwanda live on less than a dollar a day. This means that 90% of the Rwandan population is living in poverty and at serious risk of contracting the deadly disease.

So what are some of the ways that Rwanda and the world are changing for the better of Africa? President Kagame has begun to gain investments through Starbucks and Costco. The two companies are currently the country’s top investors in their coffee. The Kerry-Lugar Amendment passed this past week. ‘What is the Kerry-Lugar Amendment’, you ask? President Obama recently asked Congress for $53.8 billion dollars from the International Affairs Account for aid to other countries. This is a $4,000,000 dollar increase from last year. Congress decided to go with the same amount as last year (49.8 billion dollars).  Senator John Kerry and Richard Lugar proposed the Kerry-Lugar amendment which boosted the amount back up to Obama’s suggested $53.8 billion dollars. This is the highest the funds have ever been, and this is big news for Africa.

So what are some ways that you can help? It just so happens that Red has released many new items over the past couple of weeks. GAP has released brand new shirts for men and women. Featuring brand new designs and an affordable price tag, if you’re looking for new clothes, this would be a good choice. There is also a chance to win one shirt free here. Facebook is also joining in on the help wagon. Two gifts have been released in the Facebook giftshop. They are both little tote bags you can buy for a friend on the site. One is $5 and the other is $10. All proceeds go directly to Africa but hurry because these gifts are only offered until April 12th.

Worlds Highest HIV Rates, but Also Very High Hopes

With a 38.8% HIV/AIDS rate, Swaziland is the country with the highest percentage of citizens with the virus. With such a high rate of people with a virus, this landlocked and Sub-Saharan country has become more of a focus for Red and Global Fund.

When thinking of the pandemic that is HIV/AIDS in te world, it’s easy to keep it at a large scale view. Sometimes when we zoom in and microscope a place or an idea, certain things are brought to mind that maybe would not have been. If Swaziland has such a high rate of the HIV/AIDS virus, this means more mothers are infected with it. At first thought this doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. Continue with the idea however, and it becomes clear that the more mothers that are infected – the bigger the problem. The more people that are infected in this generation, the more that are infected next generation.

Woman in Africa generally have over at least 4 children due to high sex rates and rape. Children are projected to outnumber adults by the year 2020 in Sub-Saharan Africa. More children means more children having children. This in turn can give one a good view of an exponential curve that is happening. A curve that will climb to amounts no on has heard of in terms of  infected HIV/AIDS victims if nothing is done about it. The reason it hasn’t reached any global news stations yet is because the curve is still, relatively speaking, low. It has not breached the point of a nation emergency yet. It can however if current levels keep rising.

Personal testimonies are given on the Red website by people living in Swaziland. “It’s a blessing, I don’t think I would be here today without help.” said Sibongile Mnisi a mother of seven children in Swazi land. Mothers aren’t the only age group speaking out either. Teenagers, especially women, are letting their voices be heard through the Red site. “I know I live longer, I’ve got dreams that one day I’ll have a beautiful house with a beautiful car, with my child next to me and my husband.” said teenager Lulu Vilakati.

These are common dreams that can be found in America. Dreams that are unhibited by worrying about dying before the age of 25 due to a disease that is ravaging the country. Everybody has a right to dream, and to want what their heart desires. Project Red is helping those most in need really for the first time realize these dreams.

Dr. Patrick Okoth, Site Manager of a viral treatment clinic was interviewed by Red on this topic. “We are having people back on their feet because of the presence of antiretroviral therapy, and people are going back to work. People are taking care of their families. Children are going back to school because of the antiretroviral therapy, they can live longer, they are well able to do their work, and the family basically goes on as if nothing had happened. That is how tremendous the presence of antrietroviral therapy through this partnership of Project Red and Global Fund has done”, he said.

With Every Idea Comes Myths

The Executive Director of Global Funds (partner to Project Red) Michel Kazatchkine has teamed up wth former head of UNAIDS Peter Piot and released an article to get rid of any myths that are currently surrounding Africa, AIDS and other aspects of those two. With the economy in the worst state it’s been in in many years, funding cannot go to every cause and problem. This is why this issue is pressing and why Global Funds and Project Red are stepping up to gain more attention back on Africa that these myths have taken away. 

The first myth is that the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS is simply not working. This can be debunked pretty easily when given the right statistics for the situation. The children now born without AIDS from their mother has risen by about 19%. This means that one more person out of five people are now saved because of the treatments that Red and Global Funds have provided. Another myth that tags along with this one is that to simply use one cure for everyone is a good choice. That if we can find this one ‘golden’ cure that will fix everyone that we can not only save more money, but more lives. Piot and Kazatchkine disagree with this myth. “No approach will be enough on its own, and the promotion of one solution is, in our view, irresponsible. If we have learned one lesson in the past 27 years, it is that effective HIV prevention depends on customizing the right mix of interventions for every context”, said Piot and Kazatchkine.

Another myth that is worth talking about is the idea that since there are so many funds now for AIDS and it has become a more popular fund to provide for, there are other funds in the health care system that aren’t being funded enough. It is true that through the citizens contributions since 1996 the funding for AIDS has risen from $250,000,000 to over $14,000,000,000. The largest contributors however, are still big name companies. If the citizens and everyday people were spending more money than companies, then we may have a problem at hand.

Finally, Piot and Kazatchkine point out that even though HIV/AIDS related deaths have dropped significantly over the past decade or so, this does not mean the problem is anywhere near being over. The help to Africa has increased more than anyone could ever measure, and countless lives have been saved because of efforts all over the world – this does not mean that the battle is over. We cannot trick ourselves into thinking that we now have the problem under control.

The truth is that even if AIDS was gone except for in one person, that is still a problem of large proportions. Sadly, we will most likely never see that day – but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.

Treatment Center for HIV/AIDS

Huge news today in the world of Project Red. Not just huge, but very exciting. The US Congress has approved in giving $900,000,000 dollars to the Global Fund. That’s right, nine-hundred million dollars. This is almost a $100,000,000 increase from the funds given last year. The United States is now expected to make up about 28% of all funds given to the Global Fund.

These new funds will go towards fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in different countries all over Africa. Malaria has been a problem in Africa overshadowed by AIDS and Tuberculosis, but it is finally now beginning to break through into the spotlight. “The United States is a leader in the fight against infectious diseases,” said Dr Michel Kazatchkine. “It sends a strong signal of the importance of this fight that the U.S. Congress continues to increase funding for global health at a time of economic crisis. It underscores the need to maintain the progress and continue to invest in people’s health globally.” Kazatchkine is the executive director for the Global Fund. The United States have always worked closely with Global Fund, and has donates almost every year since the start of Project Red and Global Fund in 2002.

The statistics for lives saved by the end of 2008 is truly amazing. Statistics show that the Global Fund, through donations and working closely with Project Red, has saved nearly 3.5 million lives through AIDS treatments. Antituburculosis treatments have been given to about 4.6 million people, and treated 70 million for Malaria. This is truly history in the making, and the United States are right along for the ride.