For Release: May 9, 2003
Contact: Katie Rudolph, krudolph[at]presspartners[dot]org
Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships Names 20th Class of Fellows
Inaugural Daniel Pearl Fellow announced
WASHINGTON, DC – The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) has selected 10 early to mid-career journalists from around the world to participate in the 2003 fellowship program. One of the 10 is the inaugural Daniel Pearl Fellow. With their addition, a total of 224 journalists from 73 developing and transitional countries have been awarded fellowships in the program’s 20-year history.
Alfred Friendly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Washington Post managing editor, established the program in 1983. The fellowship is based on the idea that visiting journalists can best learn about the role and function of a free press through hands-on reporting experience in America’s best newsrooms. Therefore, AFPF places each young print journalist at a single news organization to work as a staff reporter covering local news and features. Upon returning to their home countries, participants apply what they have learned to the operations of their own news organizations. This program benefits both the Fellows and the hosts by increasing their understanding of a free press, other countries and cultures. The experience and training have had a profound impact on our Fellows’ professional lives, the publications for which they work, and their readers.
At the heart of the fellowship program is the commitment of the publications that host the Fellows. With the support of the hosts, Fellows learn firsthand the practical realities of journalism in this country 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.
Special recognition goes to The Washington Post which has hosted a Friendly Fellow for each of the last 20 years. Their Fellows have come from China, Egypt, India, Lebanon (2), Malaysia (2), Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, South Africa (5), Trinidad and Tobago (2), and Yugoslavia.
Hosting the inaugural Daniel Pearl Fellow is the Washington, DC bureau of The Wall Street Journal. This special fellowship, underwritten by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, honors the Journal reporter who was killed by Islamic militants in Pakistan in 2002. Pearl worked as a reporter in the DC bureau from 1993 until 1996.
AFPF salutes The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and all of this year’s host newspapers. Without their dedication, AFPF could not exist.
The 2003 Friendly Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:
Mr. Fasih Ahmed, Daily Times, Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Ms. Maha Al-Azar, The Daily Star, Lebanon, The Washington Post
Ms. Ana Cristina Flor, Jornal Zero Hora, Brazil, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Ms. Laura Lica, Evenimentul Zilei, Romania, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Mr. Sebastian Lupak, Gazeta Wyborcza Trojmiasto, Poland, Saint Paul Pioneer Press
Mr. Gideon Nkala, Mmegi Monitor, Botswana, The Kansas City Star
Ms. Paola Ochoa, Semana, Colombia, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Mr. Surendra Phuyal, The Kathmandu Post, Nepal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Ms. Tristana Santos Enriquez, Diario el Universo, Ecuador, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Mr. Szabolcs Tóth, Magyar Nemzet, Hungary, The Boston Globe
This year’s Fellows will arrive in the United States on June 10. Following a two-week orientation program in Washington, DC, each Fellow will travel to his or her host city and publication for the five-month reporting, writing and editing experience. The program concludes on November 21.
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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