Al Jazeera Magazine: Notes from the Field

In a village in rural China, a community holds its first election in four decades, as the world’s media descends to mark the historic moment. But as the dust settles, and the cameras leave, two journalists stay behind, spending a year telling the quieter stories of a community taking tentative steps towards democracy.

Meanwhile, in nearby Myanmar, a reporter tries to make sense of the divisions that pull at the threads of a religiously polarised country, while a photojournalist captures the hidden lives of displaced Rohingya relegated to the edges of a state that refuses to recognise them. 

Elsewhere, a filmmaker traces the story of her own family’s exile from Zimbabwe, and in so doing, tells the parallel tale of the decline of her country, while a journalist recounts the death of the legendary American community newspapers she grew up reading, and another reflects on almost 10 years of covering the war in Afghanistan and the indelible imprint it has left on all those who have been part of it.

In the September edition of our award-winning digital magazine, we feature not just the stories making the headlines, but also the deeper, untold tales that underscore them.

Al Jazeera journalists, correspondents and filmmakers take the reader onto the frontlines of their storytelling and offer a glimpse into their own notes from the field with features from India, Kashmir, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Philippines, China and the US.

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Featured in this edition are:

• A Chinese experiment in democracy – The mixed bag of trials and fortunes that one community faces as it ventures into democracy
• A Kashmiri childhood – The story of coming of age in a conflict zone and the torment of reporting on the plight of one’s own people
• A widow’s penance – A look at the Indian women cast out by their families and left with nowhere to go
• A formula for peace – Can truth and reconciliation commissions really reconcile divided nations?
• The death of an American newspaper – More than just a lament on the state of American journalism, we tell the story of what happens when a media organisation forgets the community it once served

The magazine was recently honoured at the 2013 Webby Awards where it received the People’s Voice Award in the Best News Tablet category.

In past years, Al Jazeera English has been named “News Channel of the Year” by the Royal Television Society, received a Peabody award for its coverage of the Arab uprisings, and a Columbia-DuPont award for its coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

The Al Jazeera English magazine is available for free download on iPad, iPhone and Android tablet devices.

To download via iTunes: aje.me/magazine

To download on Android: aje.me/ajemagazine

Magazines for Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera Documentary were launched last year.