Jorgen Samso

Journalist - Correspondent - Producer - Videojournalist

Specialized in the Western Balkans region and Africa. News, feature and documentary. Based between Prague, Belgrade, and Copenhagen. Main clients: Euronews and PBS NewsHour

Jorgen Samso

Journalist - Correspondent - Producer - Videojournalist

Specialized in the Western Balkans region and Africa. News, feature and documentary. Based between Prague, Belgrade, and Copenhagen. Main clients: Euronews and PBS NewsHour

Featured
Earthquake victims in rebel-held area of Syria left without aid, rescue operations
In Syria, the earthquake brutalized a community that has already suffered more than a decade of war. Rebel-held provinces in the country's northwest now face a double disaster: the deadly quake and little to no outside help. Special correspondent Jane Fer
PBS NewsHour
Featured
New hope in the battle against Ebola in the DR Congo’s conflict zone
A report from the city of Beni, in the heart of the latest Ebola outbreak. With Benedict Moran. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, health officials are struggling to end a new Ebola outbreak - the tenth that has gripped the country since the virus was first identified there in 1976. At least 185 people have contracted Ebola since early August, and the latest cluster of cases has emerged in an area where there is active fighting between the government and more than 100 different armed groups. Health workers say new medicines and the development of a vaccine are making the job of treating Ebola easier. But the virus also emerged in an area where there is active fighting. For the past 24 years, conflict between armed groups and the government — or from inter-communal violence — has displaced millions of people. As Congolese and international health teams are work to contain the latest outbreak amid conflict, The World Health Organization now says, the risk that the disease will spread elsewhere in region — and even to neighboring countries — is “very high.”
euronews
In Sudan, a new revolution to keep the spirit of an old revolution alive
After a popular uprising brought down the regime of former president Omar Al Bashir in 2019, a transitional government has led Sudan. It established a timetable for democratic elections, and started undertaking economic reforms. But to some Sudanese, the pace of reforms has been too slow. Special Correspondent Benedict Moran and video journalist Jorgen Samso report.
PBS NewsHour
Featured
In remote Sudan, the Darfur war remains present
The Darfur genocide in Sudan received widespread media coverage across the world and led to the arrest of the country’s former leader, Omar al Bashir. Traveling by car, by donkey, and on foot, Special Correspondent Benedict Moran and video journalist Jorgen Samso visited a rebel stronghold in Darfur’s remote Jebel Marra mountains.
PBS NewsHour
Rwanda’s economy is booming, but at what cost?
[Special Correspondent/producer] Since Rwanda's genocide ended in 1994, the East African nation has been led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front and current President Paul Kagame, who has been celebrated by many for bringing stability and economic gains to the long-struggling country. But to Kagame’s opponents, his authoritarian rule is setting a dangerous precedent.
PBS NewsHour
Featured
EU funds help Uganda take in refugees from DR Congo, and may slow migrant flow to Europe
European Union funds are being used to help Uganda take in refugees from the civil war raging in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda has an open door policy for refugees, which is seen by aid organisations as an example to others. While the funds undoubtedly help the refugees, Europe’s motivation is in part to reduce the incentives for those fleeing the conflict to head north.
euronews
Misinformation hurts effort to immunize children in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Millions of children around the world did not get routine vaccines as a result of disruptions and disinformation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, these setbacks threaten to undo years of public health advances. Spe
PBS NewsHour
Mass exodus begins in Gaza as Israel tells people to leave ahead of more raids
The Israeli military has told more than one million Gaza residents to leave their homes in advance of further airstrikes and an expected ground operation in retaliation for last Saturday's Hamas terror attacks in Israel. More than 3,100 have died in seven
PBS NewsHour
Gaza cut off from food, water and fuel as Israel’s punishing bombardment continues
Death tolls soared on the fifth day of heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas. More than 1,200 Israelis and 1,100 Palestinians are now dead with many still missing. In Gaza, the last power station has run out of fuel, there will soon be no electricity, n
PBS NewsHour
Hospitals overwhelmed as Gaza siege intensifies and Israel vows Hamas will ‘be crushed’
There are now nearly 3,000 dead in the six days of brutal violence between Israel and Hamas. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, including 45 members of an extended family in their Gaza home, according to officials there. In Israel, more than 1
PBS NewsHour
Central African health workers fighting mpox face lack of vaccines and medication
The mpox virus spread globally earlier this year, bringing fears of another pandemic. Many western countries fought off the outbreak with treatments and vaccines. But in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus remains endemic, as it has for decade
PBS NewsHour
On the Ethiopian border, refugees fleeing fighting, famine make for Sudan
Nobel Peace Prize-winner Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia launched a government offensive last November against rebels in the northern region of Tigray. At the time, he promised the war would be over in a matter of weeks. But the ongoing conflict has led to thousands of deaths, displaced almost 2 million people, and led to charges of ethnic cleansing and widespread sexual violence, mostly by government forces. Benedict Moran and Jorgen Samso report.
PBS NewsHour
Rwanda builds new national identity 25 years after genocide | Season 2019 Episode 04/07/2019 | PBS NewsHour
[Producer and videojournalist] The Rwandan genocide began 25 years ago today. In just 100 days, an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Benedict Moran and video journalist Jorgen Samso traveled to the east African country to speak with victims and perpetrators and to report on how Rwanda is overcoming ethnic differences and building a new national identity.
PBS NewsHour
Rwanda's war nearly destroyed this park. Now it's coming back.
[contributed video] Akagera National Park was badly degraded by poachers and settlers, but thanks to an innovative conservation effort it is now home again to the Big Five and a growing tourism business. By Benedict Moran.
National Geographic Magazine
Warming Arctic with less ice heats up Cold War tensions
The Arctic is warming up at near-record speed, twice as fast as the rest of the planet due to climate change, according to the recently-released Arctic Report Card 2020. Shrinking sea ice opens up the inhospitable far North to more human activity and old Cold War rivalry. Special Correspondent Benedict Moran and video journalist Jorgen Samso report on the ‘new cold war’ from Nunavut, Canada.
PBS NewsHour
Grant/Fellowship at the European Journalism Centre (EJC), Brussels
Grant/Fellowship, EJC, Brussels with the project Wonder Women, which examines the challenges of achieving greater gender balance in global peacekeeping operations, and the unique opportunities female peacekeepers provide as role models and soldiers.
European Journalism Centre (EJC)

About

Jorgen Samso

Journalism

Editing

Video

Producing

Storytelling

Online

Writing

Videojournalist

Multimedia

One-man-band-VJ

Documentary

Award-winning international journalist/correspondent and producer with a focus on the Balkans and Africa but with assignments across the globe. Main clients: PBS NewsHour and Euronews.

Online, print and photography bylines at The Lancet and National Geographic, Politico Europe and Foreign Policy Magazine, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and a range of national Danish media outlets, including radio.

HEAT/HEFAT in 2018 and 2022.

2024 Emmy nomination - part of PBS NewsHour team - for Israel/Hamas war coverage.

2024 Peabody Award Winner - part of PBS NewsHour team - for Israel/Hamas war coverage.

2024 OPC Awards Citation Winner, Overseas Press Club of America, for coverage of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria for PBS NewsHour

2019 Award winner, The Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize, United Nations Correspondent's Association (UNCA).

Fellowships:
2024 Journalist-in-Residence, Goethe Institute, Prague
2020 & 2022 UN Foundation
2018 European Journalism Center (EJC)
2015-2016 The Brown Institute for Media Innovation, Columbia & Stanford Universities (Magic Grant)

2015 M.A. in Journalism, Politics & International Affairs, Columbia University, New York.

Contact: jorgensamso@gmail.com