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Courage in Journalism Awards

Every year the International Women’s Media Foundation honors brave women journalists who risk political persecution,injury and sometimes death in their efforts to expose corruption and champion human rights.

Global Research on Women

The IWMF is working on ground-breaking research on the status of women in the media worldwide. The new study, the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, will measure the career progress of women in the news media and use the results to help advocate for change.

The IWMF also tracks past studies on women in the news media, and will draw from this prior work in compiling the Global Report, which will be published in 2011.

4-Year Africa Project

With generous support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the IWMF launched "Reporting on Agriculture and Women: Africa." The project is energizing the way African media cover one of the most important topics on the continent.
The IWMF is helping African journalists to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture

Funding HIV/AIDS Investigative Reporting

The IWMF is establishing 10 fellowships to train journalists in South Africa to write investigative reports on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With support from the M*A*C  AIDS Fund, these experienced journalists will conduct interviews and write in-depth research for their publications in 2011.

04

“…You will hardly ever see a woman making decisions as to what to cover or how to cover it…”

    Carmen Escobosa, Mexico

Q: What is the state of press freedom in your country?

CE: When I started thirty years ago, it was a very different situation. You couldn’t even mention there was another political party besides the one that was ruling the country. We have come a long way. Ten years ago, we still had a very tough situation, but now it is different; we are working very hard. We know we’ll never have a perfect situation--I don’t think any country has that--but we are a lot better than what we used to be, even ten years ago.


Q: What are the biggest challenges for women journalists in your country?

CE: I think professionally speaking, you can go as far as you set your mind to. You will have some challenges in the sense that a woman can be treated differently at the time you are requesting the information or getting it, but you will always get whatever you want to get. I mean, I have no doubt about it. The terrible situation is in terms of salary, in terms of positions. It is very tough, as a matter of fact…and you will hardly ever see a woman making decisions as to what to cover or how to cover it, and you will hardly see a woman in my position, for example, who produces independently. I am the only one in the border region, the largest and most visited region between Mexico and the United States. That tells you something.


Q: How do you and other women journalists face these challenges?

CE: What I basically do is focus on the work that I really want to do because I am really convinced that is what the viewers need to know and want to know. And I guess everything else comes with that--money, recognition, and anything you might expect will come with that. 

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