Entries for August 2009

Three suspects have been taken into custody in connection with a roadside bomb that injured CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick on Aug. 28. The blast killed an American solider. McCormick suffered multiple injuries, including fractures to her arms and legs. Read more by CBS News.

Three men have confessed to the 2006 murders of Al-Arabiya reporter Atwar Bahjat and her cameraman, Khaled Mahmoud Al-Falahi, and soundman, Adnan Khairallah. Atwar and her colleagues were kidnapped and killed in February 2006 in Iraq. Read the IFEX alert.

The New York Times Magazine’s Aug. 23 issue focuses on women in the developing world. Readers are invited to submit their experiences related to the importance of educating girls, supporting women's health or empowering women around the world. Entries should be posted on Nicholas Kristof's blog by Sept. 23.

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Jila Baniyaghoob, a 2009 winner of the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, was released from Iran’s Evin prison around 11 p.m. local time on Aug. 19.

Baniyaghoob was arrested in June while covering the post-election protests in Iran. A freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of the Web site Kanoon Zanan Irani (Focus on Iranian Women), Baniyaghoob, speaking from Tehran, told the IWMF that she was freed on bail. Baniyaghoob’s husband, journalist Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee, remains in prison.

• Read Baniyaghoob's bio on the IWMF Web site.
• Sign petitions for other journalists in trouble.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said yesterday that journalists attacked last week provoked the assault by taking political action against the law. Journalists protesting an education bill that they claim would restrict press freedom were violently attacked on Aug. 14. Government supporters hit and kicked journalists from the privately owned, Caracas-based dailies Últimas Noticias, El Mundo and Diario Líder. Four women, María Rondón, Gabriela Iribarren, Greasi Bolaños and Glexis Pastran, and at least other eight male colleagues, were severely injured. Rondón was hurt on the head and had to have stitches. Read the CPJ alert.

The International Association of Women in Radio and Television is accepting entries for their 2009 Awards for Excellence in Documentary Making. Awards for $750 are available for radio and television documentaries that focus on women who are making a difference in their own lives or in the lives of other women. Deadline is Oct. 16. Read more on the IAWRT Web site.

Sandra Nyaira, a 2002 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner from Zimbabwe, recently traveled to Los Angeles to speak about the IWMF and the impact it has had on her life and career. She shares her experiences from the trip and her recollections as a Courage winner.

• Read Nyaira's piece.
• Nyaira spoke on a panel about journalists in jeopardy at the Asian American Journalists Association's convention on Aug. 13 in Boston.

Tom Mshindi, a member of the IWMF board of directors, was appointed the new managing director of Nation Newspapers at Nation Media Group in Kenya. Mshindi was formerly the managing director of the Monitor Publications Ltd. in Uganda. He had previously worked for Nation Media Group as a journalist and was the managing editor of The Daily Nation newspaper. Read more on the Daily Nation Web site.

Deborah Howell, a member of the IWMF board of directors, received the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism. Howell, a consultant for Advance Publications, Inc., will be honored on Oct. 20. Read more on the Missouri School of Journalism Web site.

Leila Fadel, McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau chief for three years, has put together a multi-media memoir of her time in Iraq. It’s a powerful look at war from the point of view of the woman who led an award-winning reporting team. Watch the presentation.

The International Women’s Media Foundation is happy to celebrate the pardon and release of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling by the North Korean government. The two journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in June for allegedly entering the country illegally.

“We are very grateful for the release of these two American journalists,” said IWMF interim director Liza Gross. “As a worldwide network dedicated to press freedom, we spoke out on their behalf and our supporters advocated for their release by signing petitions that were then forwarded to the North Korean government. We are grateful for former President Clinton for his involvement and we welcome them home.”

• Read the IWMF press release.

For immediate releaseAugust 5, 2009 For more information, contact: Lindsey Wray(202) 496-1992 LWray@iwmf.org IWMF Welcomes Journalists Lee and Ling ...

The International Women’s Media Foundation urges the Zambian government to drop charges against Chansa Kabwela, news editor for The Post who is facing charges of circulating obscene materials.

Kabwela was arrested on July 15 for circulating photographs of a woman giving birth without medical aid outside the University Teaching Hospital, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Editors decided the pictures were too graphic for publication but felt it important to raise awareness about the human impact of a strike at the hospital by sending them to government and civic leaders.

Kabwela is currently free on bail, but the next hearing for her case is scheduled for today. The IWMF calls for the charges against Kabwela to be dismissed and urges Zambian authorities to investigate so that Kabwela can continue her work.

• Read the IWMF letter in support of Kabwela and sign our petition for her release.

August 5, 2009 Zambia State HousePresident Rupiah Banda Dear President Banda: We are writing on behalf of the International Women’s Media Foundatio...