Canwest, the Montreal Gazette and the Rwanda
Initiative sponsor media internship in Canada for a promising Rwandan
journalism student
(Ottawa, May 18, 2007) — A third-year
journalism student from the National University of Rwanda is spending
six weeks in Canada on a unique journalism internship sponsored
by the Rwanda Initiative, Canwest and the Montreal Gazette.
 Eugène Kwibuka, 22, is now doing a six-week internship
at the Montreal Gazette. The Gazette's owner, CanWest, and the
Rwanda Initiative sponsored his trip so he could cover the trial
of Désiré Munyaneza, a Rwandan living in Toronto
charged with participating in the 1994 genocide.
Kwibuka is filing reports to Radio Salus,
the community radio station in Butare and to the New Times, an
English-language newspaper in Kigali. The Rwanda Initiative has
been working closely with both Radio Salus and the New Times – as well as a number
of other media outlets – to build the capacity of the media
in Rwanda.
Kwibuka is also writing a blog about his experiences here in Canada.
The blog posting, called Journey to Canada, can be found on the
following Montreal Gazette web link:
Eugène Kwibuka's blog
In addition to spending time covering the genocide trial in Montreal,
Kwibuka will also be attending a major conference on investigative
reporting and a gala dinner of the Canadian Journalism Foundation,
being held in Toronto on June 6.
In his blog entries so far, Kwibuka has
marvelled at life in Montreal, a city where he notes that “every space on the street
is cemented and people walk very fast.” He was also taken
aback by the unseasonably cold spring weather.
Kwibuka is the first Rwandan journalist to come to Canada through
this kind of internship but the Rwanda Initiative hopes to establish
many such exchanges in future. At present, a graduate of the journalism
program at the National University of Rwanda, Alice Musabende, is
working on her Master of Journalism degree at Carleton University.
And another graduate of the journalism program in Butare will be
joining the Master of Journalism class this coming September.
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For more information, please visit:
www.RwandaInitiative.ca, or contact:
Prof. Allan Thompson (allan_thompson@carleton.ca)
School of Journalism and Communication – Carleton University
613-520-2600 ext. 7439
Bruce Leslie - Vice President,
(bleslie@canwest.com)
Community & Public Relations,
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
(204) 956-2025
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