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  • WAN-IFRA discusses “Women in Ramadan series” in Cairo

    As part of its leading Women in News Program in the Middle East and North Africa, World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) organized a Sohour event followed by a panel titled “Women in Ramadan series” on Sunday, June 18, 2017. A large number of senior media representatives, media executives, directors and actors attended the event to discuss gender balance in Ramadan series in Egypt. Women in News hosted the following guest speakers: Mahmoud Mosallam, Editor in chief print and online newspaper Al Watan and director of DMC channels; Albert Shafik, Director of Annahar television network; Karima Kamal, veteran journalist and columnist at Al Masry Al Youm newspaper and laureate of the 2017 Women in News Editorial Leadership Award for MENA; Suzan Qlini, dean of Faculty of Literature at Shams University and Head of media committee of the National Women Council in Egypt and Khaled Al Barmawy, digital media expert and media trainer. The session was moderated by Dalia Abu Omeira, TV anchor and actress, presenter of the morning show “Sabahak Indna” on Al Mehwar chanel. The event was the second of the sort to take place in Egypt after the “First Women in News Forum” that took place in May 2017 in Cairo. Women in News is currently in its second year and will be continued till 2019. Its main activity is the Media Management training, certified by the American University in Cairo, attended by mid-level female journalists for Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

    22-06-2017 0 comments

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  • The first Women In News Summit takes place in Durban

    Egyptian journalist Karima Kamal and Kenyan journalist Pamella Sittoni are this year’s Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award. The inaugural Women In News Summit took place on 7 June, 2017 in Durban, South Africa in association with of WAN-IFRA’s World News Media Congress and World Editors Forum, taking place in Durban from 7-9 June.  More than 300 journalists and media executives from over 30 countries attended the summit. WAN-IFRA chose “Breaking through” to be this year’s theme to highlight the stories of women journalists who were able to leave their mark as leaders in the media industry. Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award 2017 were honored at the WIN Summit. The two top achieving editors, one from the Middle East, North Africa region and one from sub-Saharan Africa each received the 2017 WIN Newsroom Leadership Award for exceptional contributions to their newsrooms. In her opening remarks, Director of Media Development at WAN-IFRA, and Women In News (WIN) Project Lead Melanie Walker said “what began back in 2010 as a small pilot program with 12 women media professionals has today grown to a multi-country, multi-region initiative that counts more than 80 media as partners, working with more than 200 individual journalists who joined the program.” Attending the summit was H.E. Cecilia Julin, Sweden’s Ambassador to South Africa, who spoke of the importance of programs like WIN and of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)’s support of the program. H.E also presented this year’s Women in News Editorial Leadership Award to Egyptian columnist and contributing editor Karima Kamal, and Kenyan editor and journalist Pamella Sittoni.   In her acceptance speech, Kamal spoke of the importance of the award saying that “The defense of the freedom of press and the freedom of speech is a long journey we have taken and still take in our countries in the hope of building the democracy we dream of. It means a lot that this award comes as recognition of this journey; it means the work we do is being seen and appreciated and this is no small matter.” While Sittoni highlighted the need for gender equality in the media saying “I urge media owners and managers to wake up to the fact that to exclude women from decision-making in media is to exclude half of the potential ideas. It’s akin to setting off on a long trek with only one shoe.” The summit continued with a number of speeches and panel discussions. The keynote speech was by Filipino journalist, CEO and Executive Editor of Rappler, Maria Ressa where she spoke of the challenges faced by women in the news and media industry. Following Ressa’s words, a panel discussion on “Leading for Innovation” featured a diverse group of women media professionals who spoke of their experiences working in the industry over the years. “Leading for Innovation” panelists: Catherine Gicheru (Kenya), Lisa MacLeod, (South
Africa), Ritu Kapur (India), Helje Solberg (Norway) and Claire Wardle (US). “Defining moments” session was a chance for five women media professionals to share their stories and the moments that changed them during the course of their work. The panelists were Kjersti Løken Stavrum (Norway), Verashni Pillay (South Africa), Monica Almeida (Ecuador), Mahlatsi Gallens (South Africa), Jumana Ghunaimat (Jordan). Contact - Inquiries Melanie Walker, Director, Media Development WAN-IFRA, melanie.walker@wan-ifra.org

    09-06-2017 2 comments

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  • First Global Women in News Summit to be held in association with World News Media Congress in Durban

    On 7 June 2017, more than 200 leading editors and journalists from around the world will hear from innovative women at the top of the news game at the inaugural Women In News Summit. “Breaking through”, is the theme of the Summit, which is being held in association with the World News Media Congress and World Editors Forum, taking place in Durban from 7-9 June. It is a component of WAN-IFRA’s sector-leading Women in News initiative, which seeks to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. Media executives who are redefining the media landscape – on their terms, speakers and mentors speaking the inaugural Women in News Summit in Durban include: Catherine Gicheru, Country Lead, Code for Kenya, ICFJ Knight Fellow, Kenya Ritu Kapur, Co-Founder & CEO, The Quint, India Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Times Media Group, South Africa Verashni Pillay, former Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post South Africa Maria A. Ressa, CEO and Executive Editor, Rappler, Philippines Helje Solberg, CEO/Editor, VGTV, Norway Monica Almeida, Bureau Chief, El Universo, Equador Fatemah Farag, Founder and Director, Welad Elbalad Media Services LTD, Egypt, Director, WIN MENA   As part of the Summit, a panel session hosted by Google will address the Gender Representation and Gender Bias in News Reporting in the Age of Social Media.  The full programme of conferences and workshops taking place in Durban can be found here (www.wan-ifra.org/durban2017) Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award 2017 will be honoured at the WIN Summit. Two top achieving editors, one from the Middle East, North Africa region and one from sub-Saharan Africa will each receive a 2017 WIN Newsroom Leadership Award for exceptional contributions to their newsrooms. Online registration for the World News Media Congress is available at : www.wan-ifra.org/durban2017. Contact – Inquiries Melanie Walker, Director Media Development WAN-IFRA, melanie.walker@wan-ifra.org

    29-05-2017 1 comments

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  • First Women in News Forum in Egypt

    The first Women in News Forum in Egypt took place on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at the Cairo Marriott Hotel and gathered more than 250 media executives, chief editors, media experts and journalists, as well as independent media actors in Egypt. More than 65 Egyptian and Arabic media organizations were represented during the forum. Different issues related to the situation of women in Egyptian newsrooms were discussed during the forum, including gender balance, the importance of highlighting the rights and competences of female journalists outside Cairo, the role of women in changing stereotypes, the need to increase the number of female sources and experts, and the role of female journalists in increasing media coverage on women related issues inside their media organizations. Panelists and speakers included, Chief editor of Al-Ahram al-Masaei, Alaa Thabet; Chief editor of Al- Shorouq newspaper Emadeddine Hussein; online managing editor of Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper Fathya Al-Dakhakhny; CEO of Mubasher Media International Assem Al-Bassal; Founder and chief editor of “Zaed 18” website Doaa Sultan, founder and managing editor of “Iskandarani” page at Welad al-Balad Doaa Jaber and managing editor of “E7ki” website Namees Arnous. This forum is part of Women in News local activities in the four countries of the MENA region where the program is being implemented (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine) and will be followed by similar events in the other countries. This event was organized complementarily to WAN-IFRA’s Media Management Training that was delivered in partnership with the American University of Cairo from 7 till 17 May 2017. The training gathered 28 prominent journalists from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine for 2 weeks of intensive training on media management certified by the AUC.

    23-05-2017 1 comments

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  • WAN-IFRA Announces 2017 Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award

    WAN-IFRA has named an editor from Egypt and editor from Kenya as Winners of the WAN-IFRA Women in News Editorial Leadership Award. Karima Kamal, columnist and contributing editor for the Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Youm, has been named the 2017 Laureate for Middle East and Africa. Pamella Sittoni, Editor of the International Desk for the Nation Media Group and Managing Editor for The East African, a weekly circulated in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, has been named the 2017 Laureate for Africa. The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award recognises an exemplary contribution of an Editor to her newsroom - and under her leadership the contribution of her newspaper - to society. "I am humbled by this great honour”, said 2017 Africa Laureate Pamella Sittoni. “This award is a strong confirmation that the world is taking notice of the important contribution that women leaders in media houses are making to the development of their countries, regions and the world. I'm confident that it will inspire other women journalists, particularly the younger ones, to aim for the top through diligence​," said Sittoni. On being named a winner, 2017 MENA Laureate Karima Kamal said:  "I am very pleased to have received the Award as I feel it is the crown of my professional journey. The Award supports those who defend the freedom of the press, and is also a confirmation of the importance of promoting the presence of women equally and fairly within all strata of media”. The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award is part of WAN-IFRA’s Gender and Media Freedom Strategy, made possible through support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Under the initiative, one Laureate from MENA and one Laureate from Africa are named, annually. This is the first year that WAN-IFRA has named a Laureate for the Middle East and North Africa. Toyosi Ogunseye, Editor of the Sunday Punch in Nigeria, was named 2014 Laureate for Africa. The 2017 Laureates will be honoured at the Women in News Summit in Durban, South Africa, on 7 June 2017. The WIN Summit is organised in association with the 2017 World News Congress and Wolrd Editors’ Forum, taking place in Durban from 7-9 June. Online registration for the World News Media Congress is available at: www.wan-ifra.org/durban2017. Contact - Inquiries Melanie Walker, Director Media Development WAN-IFRA, melanie.walker@wan-ifra.org

    22-05-2017 0 comments

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  • Women in News Editorial Leadership Awards are now open! Nominations close 1 March 2017

    WAN-IFRA in partnership with Sida is pleased to announce the launch of nominations for the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award. The award recognises an exemplary contribution of an Editor to her newsroom and under her leadership, the contribution of her newspaper to society. Two women in 2017 will be recognised as leaders, one being from sub-Saharan Africa and one from the Middle East and North Africa region. Nominations are open now! Please download the nomination form at the bottom of this article. The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award will be awarded to two outstanding woman editors who are first amongst their peers in inspiring and paving the way forward for the next generation of leaders. The Winners will possess a proven track record of success within her newsroom, have demonstrated uncompromising editorial integrity throughout her career, and have a strong commitment to the principles of press freedom and its power to promote democracy and good governance. Inaugural recipient, Toyosi Ogunseye, the first female editor in the more than 40 year history of the Punch Newspaper, Nigeria, said “Winning the award has given me the platform to meet, speak to and network with African media leaders on the need to give equal opportunities to female journalists while also making newsrooms gender friendly for them to thrive”. Eligible nominees in 2017 must: Be based in the sub-Saharan region of Africa or the Middle East and North African region. Hold a senior editorial role as of I January 2017. Work in a news media role (newspapers, magazines and digital-only). The media house can be any size from across the regions. The 2017 recipients of the Women in News Leadership Award will be honoured during the WAN-IFRA News Media Congress in Durban, 7-9 June 2017. The Winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to attend theWorld News Media Congress 2017, the premier global annual meeting of the world’s press. Completed applications must be received no later than 1 March 2017.  You can nominate yourself, or be nominated by someone else. Please download the application form attached and email it to apply@womeninnews.org . We look forward to receiving nominations from across the continent! Women in News works to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. It does so through targeted capacity building actions to develop media leaders, combined with a partnership-driven approach to advocacy that aims to sensitise and mobilise the industry on gender equality.  Women in News is a partnership with the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, Sida within the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, WAN-IFRA.  www.womeninnews.org For more information contact: contact@womeninnews.org

    24-04-2017 0 comments

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  • 33 women journalists meet in Johannesburg for WIN’s Media Management Training

    “The Media Management Training opened my eyes to see that women, myself included, limit themselves and hardly ever get to use their full capacities at work and at home”. These are the words of Juliet Makwama, an Assistant News Editor at Millenium Radio in Zambia, at the close of a five-day Media Management training in Johannesburg, South Africa. She said she came expecting to learn something about managing the news team she supervises back home, but got much more than that. The first module presented by Paula Fray on the first day, demonstrated to participants the obvious positions women take unconsciously at the work place, which limit their professional growth and advancement. Juliet said the module was a realization that women think in a limited way, and always seek validation, reassurance and support from male counterparts for decisions they make at the work place, and in life. “I will not allow being female limit my career development prospects. I will do everything possible to change the way I do things as a professional, socially, at family level and community level. I know I can make a positive contribution to society. I will never accept to be put down because I am a woman”, Juliet vowed. Sellina Khonje on her part was excited to discover that she can crack the numbers and interpret a balance sheet into simple terms after the Finance module during the training. “I can do maths, I can look at a balance sheet and understand what the numbers mean. It is not that hard, I can do it”, Sellina said confidently. Being a Chief Producer at Times Group in Malawi, Sellina says the Media Management Training has given her lots more useful skills than she had imagined. She adds that she realized that there were many activities she was involved in at the workplace which she didn’t know were directly Finance or Human Resource or even Marketing, despite having the job description of a Producer. “With this knowledge, nobody is going to mess with my budgets and my account statements for the programmes I am in-charge of ”, she declared. When she returns home Sellina intends to make a short presentation to her supervisors and her news team about some of the modules of the training, as a way of displaying her newly acquired skills and to let everyone know that she can be a reference point at a new level. Juliet and Sellina are among 33 media women in the Women In News (WIN) programme, who have just concluded their first Media Management Training in Johannesburg, South Africa, under the Wits University. The Management training brings together women from six African countries, namely Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya. The women will attend the second Media Management Training later this year before they are awarded management certificates.

    13-04-2017 0 comments

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  • Somali Women in News

    Women in News expanded to its 12th market with the launch in September of Somali WIN. The programme will work with 10 journalists and editors from media across Somali regions, and is the result of a collaboration between WAN-IFRA, IMS and Fojo Media Institute. “I hope to return with many benefits from this training and to help my female colleagues – as well as the male colleagues – learn what I have learned,” said Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim, head of production at a private radio station in Mogadishu. “As women, we have different problems on the job than men. We’re not allowed to participate as much in the newsroom and decision-makers often ignore women”. Christine Nguku, coach and trainer for WIN Central-East Africa, addressed the women in her opening remarks saying “WIN Somali programme presents a unique chance for all of you to identify opportunities where you can develop your management skills. WIN is committed to the development of women’s skills in managing news organisations and communication to ensure they are ready for promotion to senior positions. We believe women can do a good job and we know you can do it.” “Promoting women’s leadership and voices in the news through a collaboration with like-minded organizations such as Fojo and IMS signals a new step for WAN-IFRA” said Melanie Walker, WAN-IFRA’s Director of Media Development said. “We are excited to bring this innovative programme to another group of fine journalists, many of whom operate in extremely challenging conditions.” The launch event also included training sessions by Paula Fray, WIN’s Lead Trainer and managing director of FrayIntermedia. After a quick briefing on how the media is changing around the world and how that is impacting story telling and sources of news, Fray gave a session on leadership and management skills. “Journalists who excel are often promoted to managerial position without additional training and yet managerial work requires a completely different set of skills. The WIN programme is among the few which seeks to address this mismatch by teaching managerial skills.” The WIN Somali programme will run through to January 2017, and will also link into WIN Central-East Africa programme activities in Nairobi for peer-to-peer mentoring and job shadowing with WIN Kenya partners. To date, WAN-IFRA has worked with more than 200 journalists and editors from 75 media through the Women in News programme. Women in News is made possible through support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Norwegian Minsitry of Foreign Affairs. Click here for the Somali programme Facebook page.

    16-09-2016 0 comments

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  • WAN-IFRA releases WINing Strategies; a handbook on gender diversity in the media

    As part of Women in News: Gender and Media Freedom Strategy, a four year-initiative made possible through funding by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, WAN-IFRA released WINning Strategies: Creating Stronger News Media Organizations by Increasing Gender Diversity, highlighting media success stories in gender diversity. The handbook seeks to shine a spotlight on media organisations that have prioritized gender equality within their organizations, leadership teams, and within their audience, and as a result, have seen a positive return. Citing ten case studies from across the globe, the publication can be used as an inspiration to media organisations to take concrete action to prioritize gender equality and inclusion in their management structures and newsrooms, as well as a tool for advocacy and a way to start a broader conversation on this important subject. WINning Strategies will be the first in a series of handbooks WAN-IFRA will develop to support media to create more gender aware organizations, in our pursuit to galvanize our industry to collectively find solutions to bridge the inequalities within our news and boardrooms. You can download the full report here: WAN-IFRA WINing Strategies 2016.

    20-06-2016 0 comments

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