Entries for January 2009

The Washington Post named its first female managing editor on Jan. 13. Elizabeth Spayd, who will oversee the hard-news sections of the newspaper, said she hopes to increase the Post's appeal to female readers. The Post also named Raju Narisetti the newspaper's first minority to reach the second-highest rank at the Post. He will oversee the features sections of the newspaper. Read the article in The Washington Post.

Lydia Cacho, a Mexican journalist who received a 2007 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, just published a new book. Entitled Con Mi Hij@ No (Not With My Child), Cacho's book is a manual for parents to help them recognize if their children are being abused and, if so, what they can do about it.  The book grew out of Cacho's investigative reporting. Read more about Cacho and her book.

Uma Singh, a journalist and human rights activist in Nepal, was attacked and murdered by a group of men on Jan. 11. Singh, 26, worked for Janakpur Today and Radio Today FM. Read the BBC article or the RSF alert about Singh.

The National Association of Black Journalists has announced professional scholarships for journalists to attend the NABJ Conference on Health Disparities, to be held Jan. 30-31 in Atlanta. The conference focuses is on the health of the black community and empowering journalists to better reach their audiences about the health issues that plague African Americans. Scholarship deadline is Jan. 16. Visit the NABJ Web site for details.

The Kaiser Media Fellowships in Health program is an opportunity for print, broadcast and online journalists to pursue an area of interest in U.S. health policy issues. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or work for an accredited U.S. media organization. Deadline is March 3. Visit the KFF Web site for details.

The Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting, a program of the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, is a fellowship program that provides traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority journalists an opportunity to learn basic science, gain environmental research and reporting skills and apply themselves in a related reporting assignment. Visit the Metcalf Web site for more information. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Iraq was the deadliest country for journalists for the sixth consecutive year. Worldwide, more than 40 journalists were killed in 2008 in direct connection to their work. Read more in CPJ’s end-of-year analysis.

Journalist Hadeel Emad was shot Jan. 2 in Baghdad. She works as a producer for Beladi TV. The incident occurred at a checkpoint jointly manned by US soldiers and Iraqi police. Reporters Without Borders called on the U.S. military to discipline the U.S. soldiers who shot Emad. Read the RSF alert.

Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center, received the North Star News Prize for 2009. The prize recognizes the achievements of journalists of color who have made a significant contribution to the public's understanding of the struggle for social justice. Jenkins spent three decades as an anchor, correspondent and show host in New York City, mostly for NBC's flagship local station. Read more on the WMC Web site.

Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist, columnist and media consultant based in Mumbai, India. In her more than three decades as a full-time jour...

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