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Saying goodbye to our glaciers
Glaciers predate human life but our lifestyle causes them to melt. Can a funeral for a glacier get this message across? Let’s do something before it’s too late.
For a great story, get out and report
Sure, you can Zoom someone in on your laptop or chat over WhatsApp. But when you go out to an event or interview you come back with so much more.
How to amplify youth voice? Bring them into the pressroom.
A global competition has found that collaborations between news organizations and young people can benefit both.
Decoder Replay: When nations go too far
Even warfare has rules. But how can the world stop the mass slaughter and starvation of a people?
A decade getting teens to do something many avoid: Think.
News Decoder encourages youth to ask big questions and seek out different perspectives. In a world where information is spoon-fed, that’s transcendent.
Can your religion put your nationality at risk?
Muslim Indians near Bangladesh find themselves seized and sent over the border, even when they can prove their citizenship. Muslims protest against being declared foreigners in...
Do you live in a healthy media ecosystem?
Media is food for our brain. The media you consume might be nutritious. Or maybe it’s addictive, toxic and full of empty calories. Who even makes it?
Decoder Replay: Gold is valuable. But you can’t drink it.
We’re marking World Water Week, a gathering in Sweden intended to solve water-related challenges such as droughts, floods and food security. Let’s invest in it.
When you feel sick but are embarrassed to say so
Hundreds of millions of people suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, young people in particular. But we don’t like to talk about it.
Top Tips: Be the oasis in your “news desert”
With corporations shutting down local news sites, people across the globe are living in “news deserts.” So start your own news site.
Is climate change carcinogenic?
Increasingly, researchers are finding a causal connection between cancer and extreme weather events and other manifestations of climate change.
Want to be a drummer? Grab a bucket.
In a small town in Northern Italy, young people transform discarded materials into musical instruments to bridge social barriers.
Top Tips: Take good notes
Recording interviews can make for lazy listening. Good journalists take good notes. Pages and pages of them. It takes practice.
U.S. campuses are no longer safe spaces
When students return to university, it will be with the threat that masked agents can come and take them or their classmates away. What lessons will they learn?
Older is not always wiser
August 12 marks International Youth Day. Around the world young people are angry and demand to be heard. Why won’t the world listen?
Decoder: Are treaties worth the paper they are signed on?
When nations sign treaties they volunteer to abide by certain terms. But what, if anything, happens if they break those agreements?
Top Tips: Are your sources reliable?
You can interview any number of people for a news story. But how many of them know what they’re talking about and won’t steer you wrong with bad information?
Call an ambulance! But be ready to pay.
In India, a private ambulance service is filling a need in a country with a dire shortage of emergency medical services. But should there be profit in that?
A decade waking teens up to the world around them.
For 10 years News Decoder has engaged teens through experiential learning and connecting them with people who have been eyewitnesses to world events.
Top Tips: Cross platforms to reach a wider audience
Audiences are spread far and wide and get their information from all kinds of sources. How can your story catch their eyes and ears?
Do we still value original thought?
With AI taking over much of what we do, will people still value works created purely from one person’s brain? Is creativity worth anything anymore?
Can you make your podcast sound great?
To give your podcast a unique identity you need to create a “rhythm of narration.” Sound Director Luca Micheli gives us advice on what it takes to do that.
At the library you can take out a book … or dissect a body?
You might picture stacks of dust-covered books. But nowadays knowledge comes in all kinds of forms — and libraries are adapting to meet that challenge.
School closed on account of … war
Some 90 million students across the globe lose their access to education, not from snow or hurricanes, but from the political storms that rage around them.
Top Tips: Can the information you share be trusted?
To convince readers you need to base your articles on facts you get from researching the story. But to trust the information you find, you’ll need a system for verification.
An award recognizes the importance of youth journalism
In the midst of funding cuts by the U.S. government of public media, a PBS youth journalism project is awarded an international prize for outstanding achievement.
Decoder Replay: Is peace in the Middle East even possible?
It is difficult to undo almost eight decades of hostility. To understand what’s happening now in Gaza you have to go back to the creation of the Israeli state.
What’s not talked about when you live overseas
Racial bias isn’t readily apparent in Latvia. But simply how you use your voice can set you apart as a foreigner.
Sharing is good, except when it isn’t
Sometimes we feel compelled to share or repost what we read. But you might unwittingly be spreading disinformation. Beware of “copypasta.”
Top Tips: Make your voice heard
It is tiresome hearing ignorant people spout off. But if you base your opinions on facts and knowledge, people will hear what you have to say.
Exploring the diversity of people the world over
News Decoder’s summer intern, Hannah Choo, believes that differences between cultures should be appreciated, not feared.
Decoder Replay: Let’s celebrate Mandela Day
On July 18, the world celebrates the birthday of Nelson Mandela and his legacy of determination that oppression can be overcome.
Finally, a focus on freshwater fish
Fish are disappearing in an African lake that feeds the people of four countries. Freshwater lakes may not be as vast as oceans but they are just as important.
Top Tips: Take photos that stand out
Anyone can snap a photo. But taking one that captures the heart of a story? That takes more effort and care. Here’s some advice to get you started.
Decoder Replay: How important could one court be?
Nine justices hold seats on the U.S. Supreme Court In their hands lie fundamental questions of liberty, equity and who has the right to American citizenship.
How worried are we about the future? Let’s quantify it.
The “fear index” measures the ups and downs of the stock market. That often mirrors how we feel about the economy, and world.
A decade connecting young people to the world they live in
For News Decoder 10th anniversary, we look at how we’ve worked with schools to help teens find coherence out of the chaos of their times.
Can a podcast cross borders?
Getting one person to listen to your podcast is hard enough. But how to make one that can travel across borders? That was the task WePod took on.
Decoder Replay: Is truth self-evident?
Every July 4 the United States celebrates its Declaration of Independence. But behind its “self-evident” truths was a load of hypocrisy.
Tourists love Spain. But the feeling isn’t mutual.
Across the globe, tourist hubs are losing their love for the visitors who throng to them. Can an equilibrium be reached?
Top Tips: What does it mean to be an ethical journalist?
We live in an age of disinformation. But most journalists try hard to report the truth without being sneaky or causing harm in the process. They follow a code.
People don’t know you. But do you know yourself?
When we compare ourselves to others we feel lesser. But it is what makes you different that people will appreciate. Embrace what really makes you you.
Decoder Replay: Do the Geneva Conventions still have force?
Israel strikes crowds at food distribution sites. Russia bombs cities in the Ukraine war. Can we not hold nations to account?
Can Kenya keep a small moth from doing a lot of damage?
Kenyan roses are prized for their beauty. The flower industry employs thousands of people there. But just one insect can upend all that.
Can you eliminate a gender gap by segregating genders?
Around the world, data shows that girls do better in school when there are no boys in the class.
Top Tips: To err is human
Everyone makes mistakes. To be credible you have to fess up when you get things wrong. Doing so doesn’t make you look bad. It shows you care about the truth.
Decoder: Great Britain aches with the chronic pain of Brexit
It was thought that the Labour Party would bring stability to the UK after a spate of political chaos. But problems there are thorny, and the public? Not happy.
Decoder Replay: Can you rein in bad nations without war?
Countries are increasingly using sanctions, including travel bans, to bring rogue players into line. But history tells us that they don’t really work.
Where sharks are prey
All parts of a shark can be eaten. Some parts are worth a whole lot of money and that makes them hunted and endangered. Can sharks and shark eaters coexist?
Designed in California but made … all over the world
Many people in the United States feel they can’t live without an iPhone. But its global components have put it is at the heart of an international trade battle.