Entries for December 2008
Zimbabwean authorities have accused former journalist Jestina Mukoko of a terrorist plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. She is now being held in a high-security prison and faces a possible death sentence.
December 17, 2008
President Robert MugabeOffice of the PresidentPrivate Bag 7700Causeway, HarareZimbabweFax : +263 4 708 211
Dear President Mugabe:
...
Alicia Mokone, deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of comunications, science and technology, commended the media for their work to fight HIV/AIDS at an event to launch the IWMF's guide for training journalists.
Applications are now being accepted for Medicine in the Media: The Challenges of Reporting on Medical Research. The free annual training is presented by the National Institutes for Health to help develop journalists' and editors’ ability to evaluate and report on medical research. The training will be held June 24-27, 2009, in Bethesda, Md. Application deadline is Jan. 30. Read more about or apply for the NIH course.
The Harry Chapin Media Awards were created to encourage the media to "tell the story of hunger and poverty." The awards honor print and electronic media for outstanding coverage that positively impacts hunger, poverty and self-reliance. Entries for the 2008 Harry Chapin Media Awards are due Feb. 2, 2009. Visit World Hunger Year’s Web site for details.
Farida Nekzad, an Afghan journalist who received an IWMF 2008 Courage in Journalism Award, was featured on the BBC. Nekzad talked about the pressure she faces as a woman journalist and the threats she has received because of her job. Listen to the BBC interview.
Jenny Manrique, a Colombian journalist who is the 2008-09 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow, presented a talk at the MIT Center for International Studies. Manrique’s presentation, held Dec. 9, was entitled, “The Colombian Diaspora: Refugees and Asylum Seekers in South and North America." Read about the event.
Colombian journalist Manrique writes for Comunicaciones Aliadas, a non-governmental online magazine that focuses on Latin American news, particularly human rights. She is based in Colombia, but the magazine is based in Peru. Manrique has covered subjects such as kidnapping, drug trafficking and refugees. She has also interviewed victims of violence in Colombia, including people who have been injured by landmines, combatants who have returned to society, children in armed groups and indigenous people defending their land. In the course of her journalistic work, Manrique has received multiple death threats and was once forced into exile in Peru for eight months. She is interested in continuing to investigate Colombian paramilitaries and their ties with multinational corporations.
The Council for Foreign Relations' 2009-10 competition for the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship is open to individuals who have covered international news as working journalists for print, broadcast or online media widely available in the United States. The fellow is granted nine months of research, writing, and involvement in all activities at the Council in New York. Deadline is February 1, 2009. Visit the CFR Web site for details.
Former journalist and human rights activist Jestina Mukoko was abducted Dec. 4 from her home in Zimbabwe. Mukoko, a former broadcaster at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and current head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was taken from her home near Harare by 15 men in plain clothes, reported Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. Read the Reporters Without Borders alert.
Deborah Howell, an IWMF board member who has served as the ombudsman of The Washington Post for the past three years, will return to Newhouse Newspapers as a consultant. Howell spent 15 years as Newhouse Washington bureau chief before taking the Washington Post job. Read about Howell in Editor & Publisher.
Farida Nekzad, a 2008 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, is the journalist of the month on the Women's ENews Web site. Nekzad is an Afghan journalist who is the managing editor and deputy director of Pajhwok Afghan News. Read the article.
For immediate releaseDecember 4, 2008
For more information:Lindsey Wray (202) 496-1992 LWray@iwmf.org
International Women's Media Foundation Seeks N...
For immediate release
December 2, 2008
For more information:
In Johannesburg, South Africa:
Fikile Nkambule
+27 11 341 0767
fnkambule@fray...
In commemoration of World AIDS Day, the IWMF launched a new online publication designed to help media trainers and journalists implement in-house training. The goal of the newly developed workbook is to expand the IWMF’s in-house training model by enabling media organizations to use proven techniques based on the IWMF’s Maisha Yetu project, which helped journalists improve reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The workbook, a self-directed online training module, was written by Mia Malan, a media development consultant based in Washington, D.C.