Entries for June 2009

The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and the Getty Foundation are accepting applications for their annual Arts Journalism Fellowship, which will take place in Los Angeles in November. The program is oriented towards arts, culture and entertainment editors, producers and writers. The majority of the expenses related to the fellowship will be covered, and participants will receive a $500 stipend. Application deadline is July 14. For more information and to apply, visit USC Annenberg Web site.

For almost 20 years, Amira Hass has written critically about both Israeli and Palestinian authorities. A reporter and columnist for Ha’aretz Daily, she has demonstrated her ability to defy boundaries of gender, ethnicity and nationality in her pursuit of the truth in her reporting. In covering the Palestinian Occupied Territories, her goal has been to provide her readers with detailed information about Israeli policies and especially that of restrictions of the freedom of movement. For many years, she made her home first in Gaza City and then in Ramallah.

Jila Baniyaghoob, freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani (Iranian Women Center), has fearlessly reported on government and social oppression, particularly as they affect women. She has been fired from several jobs because she refuses to censor the subject matter of her reporting and several of her media outlets have been closed by the government. The topics of her reporting make her a target of the Iranian government. She has been beaten, arrested and imprisoned numerous times.

Iryna Khalip, a reporter and editor in the Minsk bureau of Novaya Gazeta, has been a journalist for more than 15 years in Belarus, one of the most oppressive countries toward journalists in the world. After working at a succession of newspapers, only to see them closed by the government, she now works for one of the most independent newspapers in the former Soviet Union. Khalip has been arrested, subjected to all-night interrogations and beaten by police, who keep her under constant surveillance.

Agnes Taile has reported on human rights and press freedom, including unflinching stories on the ineffectiveness and corruption of government officials. In 2006, while she was a reporter for Sweet FM, Taile received threats demanding that she stop her pursuit of government corruption. She ignored the threats. Not long afterward, she was abducted from her home at knife point by three hooded men, then beaten and left for dead in a ravine. Her show was cancelled after the attack. After recovering, Taile was determined to keep working as a journalist and landed a new job with Canal 2 covering the northern provinces of Cameroon.

The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication is organizing the National Health Journalism Fellowship Seminar for professional print, broadcast and online U.S. journalists interested in health news. Each fellow will receive $2,000 upon completion of the program, which will focus on health care, immigrant health and health policy among other topics. Application deadline is August 14. To learn more about the seminar or to apply, visit the USC Annenberg Web site.

Christiane Amanpour, IWMF board member and CNN chief international correspondent, was interviewed by wOw about The New York Times’ decision to hold coverage of one of its reporters’ kidnapping. Read the interview on the wOw Web site.

Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered that three men acquitted of killing 2002 Courage in Journalism Award winner Anna Politkovskaya face a retrial. Politkovskaya, a journalist for Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was murdered in her apartment building in 2006. Read the BBC article.

Olja Beckovic, a journalist for B92 television station in Serbia, was harassed on June 17. Unknown persons threw a fire torch on the B92 building and slashed the tires of Beckovic's car. The station believes the attacks resulted from continued harassment by Kurir, a tabloid daily. Beckovic is an editor and writer for the television show Impression of the Week. Read more on the IFEX Web site.

Thursday, October 21, 2010 • 6:30 p.m. Reception, 7:30 p.m. DinnerBeverly Hills Hotel • Los AngelesCourage in Journalism Chair Judy Woo...

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 • Luncheon, 12:00 p.m.Waldorf=Astoria Hotel • New YorkCourage in Journalism Chair Judy Woodruffsenior corresponden...

The International Women’s Media Foundation condemns the arrest of some 24 journalists and bloggers in Iran during post-election protests. Among those arrested was 2009 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner Jila Baniyaghoob, a freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of Kanoon Zanan Irani (Focus on Iranian Women). Baniyaghoob was arrested along with her husband, journalist Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee. According to reports, the journalists are being held in the security section of Tehran’s Evin prison.

“At this crucial time in the history of Iran, the government of Iran is trying to silence the voices of journalists, the people who are telling the world the story of what is happening on the ground,” said Liza Gross, IWMF interim executive director. “We ask supporters of a worldwide free press to join us in calling for their release. The story of what is happening in Iran today has gathered its own momentum and the world is watching and listening. Attempts to silence journalists will not stop events from unfolding – nor will it stop journalists from reporting the story. We call on the government of Iran to respect press freedom and release all journalists.”

The IWMF also began a petition on its website calling for the release of all journalists in Iran, those arrested during the post-election protests, and those already in prison. According to Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, prior to the recent wave of arrests, 12 journalists and cyber-dissidents were in Iranian jails, the highest number of any country in the Middle East. Recent arrests bring that number to 36.

• To sign the IWMF petition, click here.

June 23, 3009 We, supporters of a worldwide free press, call on the government of Iran to stop silencing the voices of journalists and release them f...

MALI: Mahamane Hamèye CisséMahamane Hamèye Cissé est un consultant  médiatique et un juriste de formation en journalisme. Il est un rédacteur en chef ...

MALI: Mahamane Hamèye CisseMahamane Hamèye Cisse is a media consultant and journalism trainer. He is an editor of two newspapers: Le Courrier, a weekl...