Foundation buries AlertNet brand

“From April 24, you’ll no longer see ‘AlertNet’ in datelines on this site. Come to think of it, you won’t see this site at all. AlertNet as you know it will be dead and buried,” the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s editor Tim Large wrote on Thursday under the headline AlertNet News Blog – AlertNet is dead! Long live AlertNet!

“I’m teasing, of course,” Large added. “The world’s premier independent humanitarian news service isn’t shutting up shop. Quite the contrary. After 15-odd years, AlertNet is morphing into something bigger and – we hope – far better.”

AlertNet was established in the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda as a free humanitarian news service covering crises worldwide. Its news and information on natural disasters, conflicts, refugees, hunger, diseases and climate change built a following of nearly 12 million visitors a year. The site provides critical and practical information in local languages to populations affected by major natural disasters through its free Emergency Information Service.

The Foundation will merge all its websites and services onto a single platform, Trust.org. It will still offer news and insight on natural disasters, conflicts, health crises and other emergencies, Large said. “We’ll still hold the aid sector up to scrutiny. Our correspondents in dozens of countries will still provide on-the-ground reportage of the human impacts of climate change.”

These staples of AlertNet content will sit alongside the Foundation’s reporting on other areas at the heart of development and human resilience, from women’s rights to good governance and social innovation, Large said. “Often, the content will cross-pollinate.”

Humanitarian NGOs will still be able to access free Reuters pictures for use in emergency appeals after major disasters. The Foundation will continue to offer free training to journalists all over the world in everything from health and elections reporting to covering crises and graft. ■