A Web site based in Columbus has introduced a new way of reading international news by providing several different cultural perspectives on global news stories.

Mondokio.com tries to set up a comparative environment for news sources by taking the most influential sources from all over the world that cover international news and translating them into English. Mondokio means “world eye” in Italian.

The stories they select to translate depend on their global significance and implications to directly affect international relations.

“Our assertion is that all news sources present news in certain ways, [with] certain perspectives or even a certain bias as a result of where they’re located in the world, what language they’re speaking, etc.,” Mondokio.com founder Brady Calestro said. “In order to properly understand an issue that transcends national boundaries, you need to read from several culturally specific news sources.”

Calestro, who grew up and currently resides in Columbus, got the opportunity to study at the London School of Economics. It was his experience there that led him to believe that every news source is shaped by its culture, and that it is this tunnel vision sources develop that gives people only one view on a specific news topic.

Studying abroad made him “acutely aware that a lot of knowledge that we see around us is actually culturally specific knowledge as opposed to knowledge that is universal.”

“That insight, as well as coming back to Columbus with new eyes, help[ed] contribute to the generation of Mondokio,” Calestro said.
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Mondokio.com hopes to contribute to the overall international media reform. It has every intention to compete for audiences of international news coverage, such as BBC, Fox News and CNN.

“I think the project has the potential to affect a lot of different aspects of not only the way people read news, but also the way the news is structured,” Calestro said. “As our popularity increases and our users become more and more global … it is certainly possible this could have an effect on editorial offices and news sources in particular,” he said.

Another aspect of the site is the music that accompanies the articles. The music corresponds to the location of the news source, with many songs available for purchase on iTunes. The music also tries to elicit an emotional response, along with providing entertainment.

Calestro heard Nelson Mandela speak a few years ago. Before the speech, Mandela was introduced with an African drum and dance performance. Calestro said the music gave the entire situation a cultural backdrop and he believes the arts, and music in particular, will play a big part in how international news is presented in the future.

Since the site’s creation, it has worked with Ohio State by providing 20 student internships a quarter. A lot of the work is primarily focused on translating articles, so most interns are bilingual.

However it is not a requirement to know another language, and Calestro believes internships with Mondokio are unlike others.
“Our internships offer an experience that is much more hands-on and much more involved than other internships,” he said.

Emily Fink, a fourth-year in French, has changed the way she has gotten her news since interning at Mondokio.

“The experience has made me want to get multiple perspectives for everything,” Fink said. “This is a huge change for someone who never watched the news or read the newspaper. Now I just don’t feel like I’ve got the complete picture without having heard or read multiple perspectives.”

Elizabeth Schreiner, a third-year in strategic communication and Spanish and former Mondokio intern, believes her time with the Web site has given her a new outlook on international news coverage.

“It really opened my eyes to parts of the world I probably will never have the chance to experience,” she said. “I feel like in some small way I have contributed to a form of global awareness that was not previously there.”

Mondokio.com receives thousands of visitors daily. The site
translates 10 different languages into English and is looking to expand to more in the future.