For Immediate Release: March 8, 2007
Contact: Katie Rudolph, krudolph[at]presspartners[dot]org
Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships Names 2007 Fellows
Washington, DC —Nine journalists from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Kenya, and Rwanda will arrive in the United States on March 16 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.
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.
The Daniel Pearl Fellowship, which has been offered to journalists from Muslim countries since 2003, will be hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle. 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 2007 Friendly Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:
Ms. Nina Akhmeteli, Georgia Today, Georgia, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Mr. Shamim Ashraf, The Daily Star, Bangladesh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mr. Steven Baguma, The New Times, Rwanda, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Ms. Aresu Eghbali, Agence France Presse, Iran, Rocky Mountain News
Mr. Amr Mohamed Emam, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, San Francisco Chronicle (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Mr. Mugumo Munene, Daily Nation, Kenya, The Kansas City Star
Ms. Sabrina Valle, InfoGlobo, Brazil, The Washington Post/washingtonpost.com
Ms. Lou Yi, Caijing magazine, China, The Philadelphia Inquirer
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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