For Release: March 14, 2006
Contact: Katie Rudolph, krudolph[at]presspartners[dot]org
Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships Names 2006 Fellows
Washington, DC —Eight journalists from Cameroon, Czech Republic, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Vietnam will arrive in the United States on March 18 for nearly six months of journalism training in American news organizations. Among them are two journalists chosen for a fellowship that honors the life and work of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and two journalists chosen for specialized fellowships in health reporting.
Created in 1983 by Alfred Friendly, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former managing editor of The Washington Post, the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) is a unique training program that allows young print journalists to participate first-hand in America’s Constitutionally protected news-gathering and news-writing processes. The Fellowships’ purpose is to enable men and women who will be news media leaders in their own countries to observe free press standards being exercised in the U.S., to put those values into daily practice with the support and guidance of American colleagues, and to transfer knowledge gained on the program to colleagues at home.
Fellows spend the majority of their time reporting for American newspapers but are also encouraged to attend conferences and seminars, read journalism books and publications, and make short-term professional visits to organizations that are relevant to their work at home. Special AFPF seminars are organized for the Fellows at the beginning, middle and end of the program.
This year, AFPF is pleased to announce two specialized fellowships in health reporting which will allow a Nigerian journalist and a Malaysian reporter to write for the Rocky Mountain News and The Washington Post, respectively. They will also be offered opportunities to attend health related journalism seminars and to meet with organizations that focus on their special interests—HIV/AIDS, malaria, sickle cell disease and tuberculosis.
The Daniel Pearl Fellowships, which have been offered to journalists from Muslim countries since 2003, will be hosted by two newsrooms where Daniel Pearl worked—the Washington, DC bureau of The Wall Street Journal and The Berkshire Eagle and North Adams Transcript. Underwritten by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, these special fellowships honor the Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.
At the heart of the fellowship program is the commitment of the journalistic organizations that host the Fellows. With the support of the hosts, Fellows learn first-hand the practical realities of journalism in the United States and the role it plays in our society. The hosts expose these Fellows to new journalistic ideas, sharing the American journalistic values and standards and making a difference in the quality and openness of journalism around the world.
The 2006 Friendly Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:
Ms. Betty Abah, Tell magazine, Nigeria, Rocky Mountain News
Mr. Franklin Bayen, Weekly Post, Cameroon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ms. Petra Breyerová, Czech Business Weekly, Czech Republic, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Ms. Phuong Ngan Do, International Affairs Review, Vietnam, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Ms. Audrey Edwards, The Star, Malaysia, The Washington Post
Mr. Peter Makori, Weekly Citizen, Kenya, The Kansas City Star
Mr. Ghanashyam Ojha, The Kathmandu Post, Nepal, The Berkshire Eagle and North Adams Transcript (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Mr. Shahid Shah, The News International, Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal – DC bureau (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Alfred Friendly Press Partners Mission: In the belief that just societies must have a vigorous and principled free press, Alfred Friendly Press Partners aims to build strong newsrooms that make possible an informed citizenry. We work to strengthen skills and values by placing talented international journalists in U.S. newsrooms and by establishing long-term training partnerships with news organizations that share our goal of fostering professional excellence.
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