The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 cities in the province, producing a highly favorable impact. Snipe then wrote articles to publicize the exhibit, resulting in the artists joining Women’s History Month in Washington, D.C. For more information about the awards and the work of the PDAA, visit the organization’s Web site ( www.pub licdiplomacy.org ) . Lowering Risks for Mexican Journalists The U.S. Mission in Mexico has been working with local reporters on improving their security and news cov- erage. Five Mexican reporters have been killed this year alone, and Mexico has been singled out by several non- governmental organizations as one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism. In response, the State Department recently funded an online training pro- gram for a group of 30Mexican beat re- porters,“Guidelines for Journalists in High-Risk Situations,” at the Digital Journalism Center, located at the Uni- versity of Guadalajara. During the workshop, participants considered ways to reduce risks while covering stories on drug trafficking, corruption and organ- ized crime. This led to creation of a Spanish-lan- guage Wiki page, www.coberturase gura.wikispaces.com , as a means to promote further discussion and a re- source for other Mexican and Latin American journalists. The page con- tains information about the tools and protocols to reduce risk, including such topics as ethics and professionalism, safely cultivating sources, and risk-re- duction strategy and security protocols. For more details on the situation in Mexico, see this month’s Speaking Out column, “Latin America’s Latest Vic- tim: The Free Press,” by Christopher Teal and Silvio Gonzalez (p. 13). ■ This edition of Cybernotes was com- piled by Editor Steven AlanHonley and Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra. C Y B E R N O T E S Site of the Month: http://globalspouses.blogspot.com How do Foreign Service spouses posted overseas find work when there’s no bi- lateral work agreement between the U.S. and the host country? Or if there are no jobs in the spouse’s field — or no jobs, period? To get around such obstacles, more and more family members are working for themselves, creating such portable careers as tutoring, freelance writing and editing, computer repair, photography and even dog grooming. And now there’s a new blogspot, Global Spouses: An Online Guide to “Trailing Spouse”–Owned Businesses , where you can advertise your spouse-based business free of charge. The blog’s founder, Amy Pratt, was already used to the nomadic life, having fol- lowed her husband, a former journalist, to Florida, Georgia, South Dakota and Penn- sylvania before he joined the Foreign Service. Her response to being regularly uprooted was to create a portable job in journalism and marketing, including her lat- est venture: Sweet Wee Bairn nursing covers. “My mission is to facilitate spouse-owned businesses within the Foreign Service by building a business network,” Pratt says. “This blog showcases spouses who have created their own job opportunities and gives Foreign Service members easy ac- cess to these businesses.” For more information, visit the blog or e-mail Amy at m.amypratt@gmail.com.