Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) editorial content head Karol Ilagan has been named to the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN), a multinational collaboration among investigative journalists to tackle pressing stories in the world’s main tropical rainforest regions.
“The RIN fellowship will give these journalists the opportunity to work full time on rainforest issues, each pursuing their own projects but looking for synergies with the work of other Fellows, sharing resources, and learning from each other,” the Pulitzer Center’s announcement read.
Ilagan manages PCIJ’s editorial desk and works with reporting fellows to tackle important but underreported issues in the Philippines. She has reported on environmental issues, irregularities and conflicts of interests in government contracts, and election spending reports of public officials.
Ilagan finished Master of Arts in Journalism at the University of Missouri – Columbia under a Fulbright scholarship. She was also a White House Correspondents Association’ scholar. She now teaches investigative reporting and data journalism in Manila’s top universities.
At the Pulitzer Center, she will look into the links between deforestation and the threat of climate change, government corruption, and corporate greed, among many issues.
Ilagan joins 12 other fellows from 10 countries representing diverse media organizations such as Tempo Magazine, The New York Times, El País, InfoCongo, Bloomberg, The Intercept Brasil, and NBC News.
“What happens in the rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia is profoundly important to the futures of us all. It’s our hope that RIN, in the months and years ahead, will make those connections clear—and drive the policy changes we need,” Pulitzer Center’s statement added.
They will be working with Pulitzer Center’s experts, including executive editor Marina Walker Guevara, who worked on the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, and similar projects at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).