Students showcase Egypt’s major problems to the world in a solution-oriented framework

CAIRO – 29 March 2017: Students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) participated Wednesday in the international Global News Relay project, addressing some of Egypt’s major social and environmental problems through solution-oriented journalism.

Global News Relay (GNR) is an annual project where journalism students from across the world work together to produce one news program, each producing a newscast from their country.

This year, the theme for the newscast was “Solutions-Journalism.” Students from 16 universities in the U.S., U.K., India, UAE, Bulgaria, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Germany, China, Japan and Mexico participated in the event, which lasted for almost six hours with the students’ newscasts, interviews and highlights of major world news events.

The AUC students’ newscast addressed five major topics: the poor quality of education in Egypt’s public schools and how some NGOs are trying to fill the gap; the medical perks of living in Southern Egypt and the contributions of Magdi Yacoub Heart Institute in Aswan; women’s poor representation in the Egyptian work force and some initiatives taken to empower Arab women; the informal sector of the Egyptian economy and whether it is right to fight it; and recycling and garbage management.

The 2017 GNR was hosted by Fresno State Focus of California State University, Fresno. Other topics tackled included sustainable agriculture and food insecurity, the fight against suicide in India, homeless suffering, waste management, refugee camps in Bulgaria, breast cancer awareness in UAE, racism in the U.K., rescue drones and more.



Holly Wise, a professor at Texas University, explained the concept of solution journalism. She said it aims at putting “as much rigor on solutions just as we report on the problem or the tragedy.”

She clarified that that solutions journalism combines traits of both activism journalism and investigative journalism. “We are taking all the tools of journalism and applying them on reporting on solutions,” she stated.

Students at the American University in Bulgaria presented a documentary on refugee camps in their country. The documentary showcased the situation in the camps through interviews with Iraqi and Syrian refugees and the director of a refugee support group in an independent network of volunteers. It tackled the trials of the trip to Bulgaria, the quality of life in the refugee camps and how difficult it is for refugees to be integrated in Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, students at Coventry University discussed immigration and racism in the U.K. Their project presented what people in the streets thought of both. They also tackled Islamophobia and the impact of America’s travel ban, as well as feminism.

Universities participating at GNR this year included Marquette University, University of Alabama, Coventry University, Asian College of Journalism, Texas State University, Manipal University (Dubai), University of the West of England, University of North Alabama, Binus University (Jakarta), American University in Cairo, American University in Bulgaria, Escuela de Periodismo Carlos Septien Garcia (Mexico City), Communication University of China (Beijing), Nanjing University, Kochi University and Fresno State.