For Immediate Release: March 17, 2008
Contact: Katie Rudolph, krudolph[at]presspartners[dot]org

 

Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships Names 2008 Fellows

 

Washington, DC –The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) is a cultural and professional exchange program for journalists that spreads good will and good journalism around the world. This year’s recipients–ten journalists from Brunei Darussalam, China, Hungary, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey and Uruguay–arrived in the United States on March 14 for nearly six months of journalism training in American newspapers.

Created in 1983 by Alfred Friendly, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former managing editor of The Washington Post, the program places mid-career print journalists from developing countries in America’s best newsrooms as reporters for five months. The program allows these 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 two Daniel Pearl Fellows will be hosted by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Underwritten by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, these special fellowships offered to journalists from Muslim countries since 2003, honor the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

The 2008 Friendly Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:

Mr. Deepak Adhikari, Nepal Weekly, Nepal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Ms. Lucía Baldomir, El País, Uruguay, Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)
Mr. Ákos Beöthy, Világgazdaság (World Economy), Hungary, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Mr. Utku Çakirözer, Milliyet, Turkey, Los Angeles Times (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Mr. Umar Cheema, The News International, Pakistan, The New York Times (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Mr. Sopan Joshi, Down to Earth, India, The Washington Post
Ms. Sonia Kaur, Borneo Bulletin, Brunei Darussalam, Rocky Mountain News (Denver)
Mr. Andrew Kipkemboi, The Standard, Kenya, The Sun (Baltimore)
Mr. Samuel Siringi, The Daily Nation, Kenya, The Kansas City Star
Mr. Yunting “Ivan” Zhai, South China Morning Post, China, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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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