The Daniel Pearl Fellowship program for 2016 attracted a diverse pool of applicants, including 10 from the war-torn countries of Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Overall, Alfred Friendly Press Partners received qualified applications from 55 journalists working in 15 different countries. Two journalists from Iran and one from Bahrain applied for the fellowship, which would have been a first for the Daniel Pearl program.
Three of the applicants from the countries suffering through civil war are working in exile but hope to return home as soon as conditions are safe enough.
We’re profoundly impressed with the group of journalists that applied for the Daniel Pear fellowship. Although it was a difficult decision, Daniel Pearl awarded the fellowship to two journalists from Pakistan: Amal Khan and Irfan Haider.
Amal Khan says she remembers when Daniel Pearl was killed. “I was only 16 years old. Yet I remember well, my obsession with his story… I have begun that difficult task of truth-telling for which he lived and for which he gave his life,” she wrote.
We are excited to receive this year’s Daniel Pearl fellows. They are arriving late March to start their training at the the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
