News

Tsering Woeser, a recipient of a 2010 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, reported on her blog that her Skype account has been hacked. She says hackers have been impersonating Tibetans to contact her and send her infected files. See Woeser's blog. Read a Reuters article about a similar Skype incident that happened to Woeser in 2008.

Jila Baniyaghoob, an Iranian journalist who received a 2009 Courage in Journalism Award, wrote an account of when she and her husband were arrested last year following post-election protests in Iran. Read Baniyaghoob's piece on her website.

Tanzanian journalist Vicky Ntetema, recipient of a 2010 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, was featured on Public Radio International's The World on June 10. Listen to the program.

Helen Thomas, the 1995 winner of the IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award, is featured in a Los Angeles Times editorial. Thomas broke many barriers for women journalists, the editorial says, and it would be unfortunate if she were remembered only for her final remarks. Read the editorial.

Journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amoyee, the husband of 2009 Courage in Journalism Award winner Jila Baniyaghoob, is in prison again in Iran. Amoyee, who had been released in March after nine months in Evin Prison, was imprisoned on May 30. He was summoned by the prosecutor's office to continue serving as a political prisoner. Read more on Jila Baniyaghoob's website.

Claudia Duque, winner of a 2010 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, was featured on Caracol Radio in Colombia. Listen to the broadcast.

The number of social networking initiatives at television stations soared over the last year, according to the latest installment of the RTDNA/Hofstra survey. Almost 40 percent of television stations surveyed said their newsroom has a Facebook page and 36 percent said their newsrooms were “constantly” active on Twitter. Read more on the RTDNA website. 

The Online Media Legal Network, launched earlier this year, is a free legal referral network that assists journalists and other independent publishers to find free legal help. The network provides assistance in a broad range of legal issues, including copyright licensing and fair use counseling. Visit the OMLN Web site to learn more.

Judy Woodruff, a founding member of the IWMF board of directors, will receive the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in the television category from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. The award will be presented on April 20. Read more about Woodruff’s award.

Christiane Amanpour, an IWMF board member, will be the new anchor of ABC News’ This Week starting in August. Amanpour, a 1994 winner of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, has been a reporter and anchor for CNN for more than two decades. Read more about Amanpour’s new position.

Margaret Moth, a 1992 winner of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, died March 21 of cancer. Moth, a New Zealand native who worked as a camerawoman for CNN, survived being hit by a sniper’s bullet in Sarajevo in 1992. Read more in The Washington Post.

Liz Carpenter, a newspaper reporter, an aide to Lyndon B. Johnson when he was vice president and press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson during her years in the White House, died March 20. She was 89. Carpenter was a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus and joint chairwoman of ERAmerica, an organization that unsuccessfully fought for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Read the New York Times article.

The IWMF has joined other press freedom organizations in an international campaign to free journalists in Iran, where 52 are being held in prison. Among them is the husband of Courage Award winner Jila Baniyaghoob. Sign a petition at Our Society Will Be a Free Society.

Writing in the UN Chronicle, IWMF Executive Director Liza Gross says women are still invisible in the media. Read the article.

IWMF Board member Cindi Leive, editor in chief of Glamour magazine, is being honored April 7 by Women in Need, a New York City organization that helps homeless families. Read more about it.

UNESCO has launched Women Make the News 2010, a global initiative aimed at promoting gender equality in the media. This year’s theme is “Towards Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media: Best practices for gender perspective in media and in media content.” WMN 2010 is intended to initiate a global exchange on the importance and the need for gender sensitive indicators for media organizations.  Read more on UNESCO’s Web site.

Christiane Amanpour, a member of the IWMF board of directors and a 1994 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, was featured in The New York Times magazine in February. Amanpour discussed reporting and the news media industry. Read the article.

Diane Sawyer, who began last month as anchor of ABC’s evening newscast, has already seen ratings rise by eight percent. Read more in the Los Angeles Times.

Correspondent Julia Marsh covered the IWMF South Asia Initiative on Women and HIV/AIDS Policymaking for the Women’s eNews Web site. "Our real goal is to create a safe space where women from these countries could come together to address the HIV-AIDS epidemic," Leslie Wolfe, president of the Center for Women Policy Studies, told Marsh. Read the Women’s eNews article.

Diana Zulu, recipient of an IWMF fellowship in 2004, died Dec. 25. Zulu, sports editor for the Zambia Daily Mail, died after an illness. She spent her fellowship focusing on health issues at The Boston Herald. Read blog coverage on ICFJ’s Web site.

Belva Davis, the 2004 winner of an IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award, hosts a new show for KQED, a television station in California. Davis, who has worked as a reporter for nearly 50 years, hosts a revamped version of the news show, This Week in Northern California. Read more about Davis.

Mariette DiChristina was named the first female editor-in-chief of Scientific American in the magazine's 164-year history. DiChristina, who joined the magazine in 2001 as executive editor, has been serving as acting editor-in-chief since June. Read the press release about DiChristina.

Barbara Cochran, a member of the IWMF Advisory Council, will be honored by the Radio Television Digital News Foundation. Cochran, RTDNA president emeritus, will be recognized at the 20th Anniversary First Amendment Awards dinner in March 2010. Read the RTNDA press release.

Teresa Rehman, a journalist from India who will be participating in the IWMF’s upcoming South Asia Initiative on Women and HIV/AIDS Policymaking, received a Sanskriti Award for Journalism from the Sanskriti Foundation. The awards recognize talented individuals in various fields who are in the 25-35 age range. Rehman is the principal correspondent for Tehelka news magazine. Read more on the Sanskriti Foundation Web site.

Amira Hass, the 2009 winner of the IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award, spoke at the University of California – Los Angeles about her experiences reporting in Gaza and the books she has written. Read more on UCLA’s Web site. 

Maria Elena Salinas, a member of the IWMF board of directors and an anchor for Univision, talks about her career and the rise of Spanish-language news in an intervew with Mediabistro. Read the Mediabistro article.

Rozanna Yami, a woman journalist in Saudi Arabia, was pardoned by the country’s King Abdullah for her involvement in a talk show for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation during which a Saudi man talked about his sexual exploits. Yami had been sentenced to 60 lashes on Oct. 24. Read the article in the Los Angeles Times.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has prepared a comprehensive online guide for journalists covering the H1N1 flu story. The site offers tools for reporters and editors. Visit the Covering Pandemic Flu Web site.

Kathy Gannon, a Canadian journalist who won the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award in 2002, wrote about Afghanistan in Foreign Affairs magazine. Read the article.

Eritrea has the least freedom the press in the world, according to an index by Reporters Without Borders. The index measures the level of press freedom in 173 countries. Read more on the RSF Web site.

Three women journalists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo recently received death threats via text messages. Journalists Kadi Adzuba and Delphine Namuto of Radio Okapi and Jolly Kamuntu of Radio Maendeleo were warned they would get “a bullet in the head” unless they stopped “meddling in what does not concern you,” according to Reporters Without Borders. Read the RSF alert.

Katty Kay, a Washington correspondent and anchor for BBC World News America, spoke on The Diane Rehm Show on Sept. 9. Kay and Claire Shipman, senior national correspondent for ABC News' Good Morning America, discussed their new book, Womenomics, which asserts that women want a better work-life balance. Listen to the broadcast.

Diane Sawyer will begin anchoring ABC World News in January. She will be the second woman to hold this position on current network television; Katie Couric is the CBS Evening News anchor. Sawyer will succeed ABC’s Charlie Gibson. Read the Washington Post article.

Kim Bolan, a 1999 winner of the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, is a finalist for an online topical reporting/blogging award from the Online News Association for her blog, The Real Scoop. Bolan has worked at The Vancouver Sun since 1984. Award winners will be announced Oct. 3. Read more about the Online Journalism Awards.

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.

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.

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.

Former President Bill Clinton is in North Korea to negotiate the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, American journalists who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory. The journalists have been held since March. Read the New York Times article. Sign the IWMF petition for the journalists’ release.

The percentage of women working in local television news is at a high of 41.4 percent, according to the Radio Television News Directors Association/Hofstra survey of Women and Minorities in local news. However, the survey also showed that the percentage of journalists of color working in local radio and television news fell. Read the survey results.

Shahla Sherkat, a 2005 winner of the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, wrote an essay for Harvard’s Nieman Reports about her experience running a women’s magazine in Iran. Her magazine was shut down two years ago by the government. Read Sherkat’s piece.

Three out of 435 proposals for the New Media Women Entrepreneurs Initiative received a $10,000 award for their projects. The winning proposals are a Web site on community news sites, a food policy start-up and a health Web site for women ages 18 to 27. For details about the award winners, visit the New Media Women Web site.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, American reporters who have been sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp, are seeking a pardon. North Korea has delayed sending the convicted journalists to a labor camp in a possible attempt to talk about their release. The journalists were captured in March on the China-North Korean border. Read the Washington Post article.

The family and friends of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two American journalists sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp, as holding a vigil on Thursday, July 9, from 6:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m. in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. Vigils will also be held in Birmingham, Phoenix, San Francisco and Sacramento. For more information, contact Dan Beckman at (202) 276-1675 or dan.p.beckmann@gmail.com.

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.

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.

David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in November by the Taliban, escaped June 19 from where he was being held in Pakistan. Afghan reporter Tahir Ludin, who was abducted and being held with Rohde, also escaped. Read the New York Times article about Rohde.

A week after American reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison in North Korea, The New York Times reports that some journalists now are taking more risks in a do-it-all model of journalism. This type of reporting differs from the traditional model of reporting for large established news organizations that might have more experience and leverage when dealing with foreign governments. Read the New York Times article.

American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been sentenced to 12 years hard labor by a North Korean court. Read the Washington Post article.

Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who spent four months in prison in Iran, returned to the U.S. on May 22. After being convicted on spying charges, Saberi was released on May 11 and spent a week recuperating in Vienna. Read the Washington Post article. Read an NPR interview with Saberi.

Turkish journalist Ayse Onal, a 1996 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, is featured in Women’s ENews. Onal, who has reported on Turkish politics, organized crime and conflicts in the Middle East, has written a book and produced a documentary about honor killings. Read the Women’s ENews article.

Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer and an IWMF board member, spoke May 16 at Gettysburg College’s commencement ceremony in Pennsylvania. Woodruff spoke with her husband, Al Hunt, a managing editor of Bloomberg News. Both received honorary degrees from the college. Read more on Newswise.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, American journalists who have been detained in North Korea since March, will be put on trial in early June. The journalists have been accused of illegal entry and "hostile acts," which in North Korea are punishable by five to 10 years in a labor camp. Read the Washington Post article. Sign the IWMF petition for their release.

The IWMF will receive a collective honorary doctorate degree in journalism from Dickinson College at the school’s commencement ceremony on May 17. IWMF board member Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN, will accept the degree on behalf of the organization. Amanpour will also deliver the commencement address during the ceremony. Read more on Dickinson’s Web site.

Shirley M. Carswell will become deputy managing editor of The Washington Post on May 18. In her new position, Carswell will oversee personnel, administration, research and newsroom technology as The Post seeks to transform itself amid the technological and economic upheavals sweeping the newspaper industry. Read more in The Washington Post.

Jestina Mukoko, a former journalist who is a human rights activist, was freed on bail after Zimbabwe's president and prime minister forced a judge to reverse a decision to send her back to the prison where she claimed she had been tortured. Read the Washington Post article.

IWMF board member Eleanor Clift will emcee the 2009 Matrix Awards for Professional Achievements. The event, to be held on May 14 at the National Press Club, will honor Michelle Singletary, nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, and Kate Perrin, CEO of PRofessional Solutions, LLC. IWMF members receive a discount. Read more or register on the AWC Web site.

Judy Woodruff, IWMF board member and senior correspondent The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, received a 2009 Smart Cookie Award from Cookie magazine. Woodruff was honored for her support of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. The Cookie Awards recognize the relationship between motherhood and citizenship. Read more about Woodruff and the award.

Convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison, American journalist Roxana Saberi has gone on a hunger strike. Saberi’s parents told NPR that their daughter plans to refrain from eating until she is freed. Listen to the NPR report. Read more in The Washington Post.

American journalist Roxana Saberi was convicted by an Iranian court of spying for the U.S. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged the chief prosecutor to re-examine the case. Saberi was arrested in January and has been detained since then. Read more about Saberi’s case. Sign the IWMF petition for Saberi’s release.

Cynthia Tucker, an IWMF Advisory Council member and a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will take a new role as political columnist based in Washington, D.C., beginning this summer. Her columns will appear twice each week in the AJC’s Op-Ed pages and online at ajc.com. Read more on the Poynter Web site.

Newsroom cutbacks have affected many veteran female reporters, leading to layoffs and buyout deals that send seasoned journalists looking for new employers. Some see these changes as opportunities, allowing women to continue their careers in new media. Read more on the Women’s eNews Web site.

Jana Ciglerova, a journalist for the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes, is producing a series of documentaries about notable women for a popular Czech television program. The documentaries, being shown on the series “13th Chamber,” are meant to highlight the struggles of women to work in a “man’s world.” Ciglerova said it is important to bring the issues these women face into public dialogue, as gender inequality is pervasive in Czech society. Read the Women’s eNews article.

Roxana Saberi, an American journalist who has been detained in Iran since January, has been charged with spying. A judge said Saberi “has perpetrated actions to compile and gather information and documents and transferred them to American intelligence services." Read an update on Saberi in The Washington Post. Sign the IWMF petition for Saberi’s release.

Courage supporter Cheryl Saban has published a new book intended to empower women. Entitled What is Your Self-Worth? A Woman's Guide to Validation, the book addresses the status of women in the U.S. and around the world, their cultural value and their self-worth. The book includes insights from women such as publisher Arianna Huffington and actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Read about Saban and her book.

Three current or former IWMF award winners will participate in Women, Action & the Media 2009, an annual conference--sponsored by the Center for New Words in Boston--to share ideas about contemporary media, develop skills and build collaborations. Speakers include: Huda Ahmed, a 2007 Courage in Journalism awardee who is also a former IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship recipient; Peta Thornycroft, a journalist in Zimbabwe who won the 2007 IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award; and Jenny Manrique Cortes, a Columbian journalist who is the 2008-09 IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow. Read more about WAM 2009.

Alifiya Khan, a senior correspondent at The Hindustan Times in Mumbai, was named the third winner of the Anupama Jayaraman Memorial Award for young women journalists. Khan, 24, received the award from the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI). Read more on the NWMI Web site.

The traditional anchorman is becoming a minority and newscasts are getting female makeovers. An article in The Boston Globe credits budget cuts, loss of industry veterans and changes in direction at news stations for allowing women to move into more prominent roles. Read the Boston Globe article.

Former journalist Jestina Mukoko , who was abducted at dawn by Zimbabwean security agents three months ago, was released from a Zimbabwean jail on Monday. The IWMF advocated for her release. Read the New York Times article.

Three men were acquitted of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Russian journalist and winner of an IWMF Courage Award in 2002.  Best known for her stories about the war in Chechnya, Politkovskaya was found shot in her Moscow apartment in 2006.  Sources believe she was murdered because her investigations uncovered information that threatened influential figures within Russia.  A fourth man was also tied to the defendants, but not to the murder.  Read the article in the New York Times.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, an Afghan woman journalist and a 2008 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists on Nov. 25. Read the Associated Press article about the award.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the re-opening of the trial for the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist who was murdered in her apartment building in 2006. Politkovskaya is a 2002 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award. The CPJ call came in Nov. 20 in response to news reports that a juror in the trial disputed the Moscow District  Court’s claim that the jury had asked for the closure of proceedings to the press. The ban was lifted by a judge and press is allowed to attend, according to a Nov. 25 update from CPJ. Read about the case on the CPJ Web site.

Christiane Amanpour, an IWMF board member and CNN’s chief international correspondent, will receive the Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club. The award, which is the highest honor for excellence in journalism from the Club, is given annually to an individual who has achieved distinction for a lifetime of contributions to American journalism. Read more about Amanpour and the award.

Women journalists are leading the way in coverage of this year’s presidential campaign. Reporters such as Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow and IWMF board member Campbell Brown are rising to the top of their profession while breaking gender barriers and challenging candidates. Read the article on Salon.com.

Mildred Heath, a 100-year-old journalist in Nebraska, will be honored with an award from the nonprofit group Experience Words for being the oldest worker in the United States. Heath is a reporter for the Beacon-Observer newspaper, a weekly publication based in Overton. She has been working at newspapers in the state for about 85 years. Read a feature on Heath on the Beacon-Observer’s Web site.

Nancy Hicks Maynard, the first black woman to be a reporter at The New York Times, died Sept. 21 in Los Angeles. Maynard also bought and published The Oakland Tribune with her husband. Read the article in The New York Times.

According to research by The Radio-TV News Directors Association, the percentages of women and minority journalists in local broadcast newsrooms increased in 2007. However, the percentage of minorities in newsrooms has yet to reach parity with minority population in the U.S.: 34 percent.  Click here to read the RNTDA study.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced a memorial to journalists killed while reporting. The monument, which is atop the BBC Broadcasting House in London, is dedicated to all slain news journalists and those who have worked with them.  Read more on the BBC News Web site.

A journalist and her two cameramen were abducted in the Philippines on June 9. Ces Drilon, a journalist for Philippine network ABS-CBN, and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama were abducted by armed men in Sulu.
Read the CPJ alert.

Jane Ransom, executive director of the IWMF, and IWMF board member Ferial Haffajee, who is the editor of Mail & Guardian in South Africa were interviewed for an article by the Inter Press Service about female underrepresentation in management positions, specifically in the media.  Read the IPS article.

Tamerlan Makhmudov, who was charged in the October 2006 assassination-style killing of Anna Politkovskaya, was released. He is the third of nine suspects linked to the murder to be released recently. Politkovskaya was a 2002 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award. Read the Reuters article.

Eleanor Clift, a contributing editor at Newsweek and a member of the IWMF board of directors, will be honored May 15 by the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. Clift will receive the 2008 Matrix Award during a luncheon at the National Press Club. Helen Thomas, a veteran reporter who is a former IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, will introduce Clift. Maureen Bunyan, another IWMF board member who is an anchor for the ABC affiliate television station in Washington, D.C., will emcee the luncheon.  Visit the AWC Web site to read more.

The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group has released a 2007 Gender Analysis study. According to the study, out of more than 10,000 radio stations, only about 15 percent have women general managers. For full details, click the link below to read the report. Read the PDF of the MIW Report.

Leila Fadel, the Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy newspaper company, was interviewed by Bill Moyers on April 18. Six Iraqi women from the McClatchy bureau that Fadel leads won a 2007 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award. Click here to watch the interview and read the transcript.

Two women journalists working for a radio station in Mexico were shot and killed earlier this month. Teresa Bautista Flores and Felicitas Martínez worked for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (The Voice that Breaks the Silence). It is not yet clear if the journalists' deaths were related to their work.  Read the RSF report.

Reporters Without Borders reports that a pedophilia-related presentation by 2007 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner Lydia Cacho was blocked by Mexican authorities. A wall poster announcing a presentation about Cacho's new book was removed; authorities said it "did not meet safety standards." Additionally, local newspapers and radio stations canceled interviews with her. Cacho's new book, Memories of Infamy, includes an account of her December 2005 arrest and the various attacks and intimidation attempts to which she was subjected after the publication of her book, The Demons of Eden, in 2004.   Read the RSF article.

Miller, an IWMF board member and foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times, was interviewed March 24 on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. Miller joined other editors and reporters to speak about media coverage of the war in Iraq now that the U.S. military death toll has hit 4,000. Read the interview transcript.

On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2007, journalists gathered in Colombia to honor other journalists who have given their lives to report the truth. UNESCO's report on the event and the safety of journalists is now available online. Click here to download a PDF of the report.

Gao Yu, a 1995 recipient of an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award who was unable to accept her award until 2006 due to her imprisonment in China, will be a featured speaker at a press freedom conference in April. Gao, a freelance journalist, will speak about how China controls media. The conference is being held in Paris in light of the media coverage questions surrounding the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing. Visit WAN’s Web site to learn more.

Two CBS News journalists were kidnapped in Basra and remain missing. The journalists, a British citizen and an Iraqi, were taken from their hotel Feb. 10 by armed men. At least 15 journalists, all Iraqi, are currently held hostage in Iraq, according Reporters Without Borders, which continues to be the world's most dangerous country for the media. Read an article in The Washington Post.

Zanan, a feminist Iranian magazine that was founded by 2005 Courage in Journalism Award winner Shahla Sherkat, has been ordered to close by Iranian censors. Zanan, which has survived previous crackdowns, has been promoting women's rights for the last 16 years. Read more in a Los Angeles Times blog.

The IWMF was featured Jan. 3 on Houston's KPFT radio station. Jane Ransom, the IWMF executive director, was interviewed about the organization and the Courage in Journalism Awards on a weekly program called The Progressive Forum, which deals with issues such as the media, politics and peace and justice. Click here to listen to the KPFT program.

Serkalem Fasil, an Ethiopian publisher who received a 2007 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, was denied her applications to launch new newspapers this week by the Ethiopian government. Fasil and her husband, journalist Eskinder Nega, along with another publisher, Sisay Agena, reportedly fulfilled all legal requirements and submitted applications for Lualawi and Habesha, two current affairs Amharic-language weeklies. The journalists were previously imprisoned and their newspapers shut down by the government. Click here to read the CPJ alert.