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Author Biography: James Munson

Learning the way the world works first-hand drives James Munson's passion for journalism. After graduating from the University of King’s College in 2008, he headed west to Denver to work for the Hill Times, where he finagled a ticket to hear Barack Obama accept the presidential candidacy. His impulse then lead him north to the Yukon News in Whitehorse, where he cut his teeth as an investigative reporter and feature writer. He won the 2010 Ma Murray award in environmental writing for a story about the premier’s hand in suppressing the advice of scientists who recommended protecting the Peel watershed from mining. He also exposed the premier’s negotiations to sell the Yukon’s public power utility in 2009. James and the premier are no longer speaking. His experience in northern Canada has prepared him for the rigours of Tamale in northern Ghana—he thrives on living in a strange places in strange times doing exhilarating work. He’s looking forward to working at Diamond FM where he hopes to focus his work on politics and governance issues.

Does a witch have human rights?

In Blog, Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships, Media Internships,
by James Munson September 2, 2011

When a young girl was killed in Kasalgu, a tiny village in rural Ghana, no one thought to call the police or hire a lawyer. Instead they went to the chief. It’s the dry season in Kasalgu and people here are preparing their crops of maize and yam in yellow fields of sun-stroked earth. And [...]

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Moses in chains

In Blog, Ghana, Media Internships, Uncategorized,
by James Munson August 11, 2011
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Pastor Serwaa knew two journalists were coming to interview her. God told her before Kizito Abagoami, a Diamond FM reporter, and I arrived. Sitting in a plastic chair under the shade of an awning, Serwaa looks middle-aged and is dressed plainly in a white gown resembling a nighty. She granted us an interview, which was, [...]

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The strange death of Safianu Adam

In Blog, Ghana, Media Internships, Uncategorized,
by James Munson August 11, 2011
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On the evening of March 29th, a cab driver named Safianu Adam walked into an anti-government riot in Tamale, one of Ghana’s biggest cities. Not only after he arrived in the riot’s epicentre – a downtown intersection filled with massive tire fires and men wielding weapons – he was killed. Safianu would be the only [...]

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The little business people of Bolgatanga

In Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships,
by James Munson June 9, 2011
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Street children who hawk goods in Bolgatanga, the capital of Ghana’s Upper East region, have a hierarchy to climb if they want to make money. At the bottom rung, initiates usually begin by helping people carry heavy goods, especially around the city’s busy bus and taxi station. They then graduate to selling things like sachets [...]

Tagged as: child labour, Ghana, youth rights

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Gadhafi fever hits northern Ghana

In Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships,
by James Munson May 25, 2011

Anti-western anger over NATO strikes in Libya has crossed the Sahara and sparked protests in northern Ghana. Hundreds of people marched in Tamale on last month with placards that read: “We support (Moammar) Gadhafi” and “Stop the War on Islam.” In the past several months, as rebels groups first protested and then fought Gadhafi’s forces, [...]

Tagged as: democracy, Gadhafi, Ghana, North Africa

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Meet the chief

In Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships,
by James Munson April 4, 2011

Sitting on a bench inside the chief’s palace, daily life of Tamale’s first family looked pretty routine. Women cooked on open fires and children chased a chicken around the yard. But the details tell another story. Instead of thatched hay, most of the roofs are made of shiny tin. The paint job is clean and [...]

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Footsoldiers erupt

In Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships,
by James Munson March 21, 2011
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A couple of hours before my first day on the job at Tamale’s Diamond FM, a posse of political activists stormed the station. They were footsoldiers from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the governing party in Ghana. While the term footsoldiers might sound a bit militant to western ears, here it refers to grassroots party [...]

Tagged as: Ghana, politics, Tamale

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Nothing wasted

In Ghana, IYIP Rights Media Internships,
by James Munson February 17, 2011
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By James Munson Every day, he sits outside the office on a small concrete stump with his hands wrapped around some old shoe. Sometimes he’s burning one with a lighter. Other times he’s tying two sections of a shoe together. Kofi Akose, 28, is one of Tamale’s many cobblers. “I learned this as a small [...]

Tagged as: recycling, shoe repair, Tamale

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