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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 NEW YORK (AP) |
NEWSWOMEN RECEIVE COURAGE
IN JOURNALISM AWARDS
by RICHARD PYLE
Associated Press Writer
Four newswomen from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cyprus and the United States were honored by an international journalism group for their work in difficult and dangerous situations that sometimes include risking their lives to tell a story. Aye Aye Win, a correspondent for The Associated Press in Myanmar, said she faces constant threats from the nation's hard-line military regime. ``A knock on the gate at midnight unnerves and traumatizes our lives ... (but) I believe journalists have to take some risks if they are to challenge those who want to silence us from telling the truth,'' she said in a statement read by AP International Editor John Daniszewski. He said Win did not attend the event for fear her family would be in danger if she left Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Win, 54, was one of three women to receive Courage in Journalism Awards from the International Women's Media Foundation on Tuesday. The others were Farida Nekzad, managing editor of Pajhwok Afghan News, and Sevgul Uludag, an investigative reporter for Yeniduzen, a Cyprus newspaper. The three told of being subjected to intimidation and even death threats for their journalistic efforts, and said they accepted their awards on behalf of all women journalists who are denied professional equality. Edith Lederer, an Associated Press reporter who has covered wars and other events around the globe for more than three decades and is now AP's chief correspondent at the United Nations, received the IWMF's Lifetime Achievement Award. Lederer, 65, took note of sweeping changes affecting her craft that has led to a reduced focus on world events in newspapers and television since 1972, when she first went abroad to cover the Vietnam War. ``Celebrity journalism dominates today's media and the space for international news has shrunk,'' she said. ``How are young Americans going to compete in this new interconnected world and what does this say about America's future global leadership?'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced Nekzad, 31, as ``an amazing woman'' and stood by as she delivered remarks through a translator. She told of facing threats ``from the Taliban, warlords and the government'' but declared herself determined to continue working toward a free press and female equality in a country where those ideas are virtually unknown. Uludag described the death threats, violence and other pressures she has encountered in trying to report on the fate of thousands of people who disappeared and were murdered on both sides during the Greek-Turkish clashes in Cyprus dating to 1974.
``What unites us in Cyprus is our suffering and our future,'' she said.
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Written by
RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
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The International Women’s Media Foundation is a vibrant global network dedicated to strengthening the role of women in the news media worldwide as a means to further freedom of the press. Reporters Without Borders defends journalists and media assistants imprisoned or persecuted for doing their job and exposes the mistreatment and torture of them in many countries,fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom, and works for improved safety, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an independent, nonprofit organization based in New York, New York, United States, that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, similar MY HERO: Margaret Bourke-White was a woman of many firsts: first female photographer for Life magazine, first female war correspondent, first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union. For some, photojournalism is simply a job. For James Nachtwey, a self-taught photographer, it is a passion which drives him to put life and limb on the line to document history, strife, warfare, poverty, famine, starvation, and social, political and environmental issues. |
Last changed on:10/22/2008
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