In the 33-year history of the Global Media Awards program, the Population Institute has recognized dozens of professional journalists for their coverage of family planning and reproductive health care issues. Many of them have gone on to have highly successful careers, based in part upon their continued coverage of population-related issues. One of those journalists is Zubeida Mustafa, a Pakistani journalist who retired after more than 30 years of work in 2008 as the Assistant Editor at DAWN, one of Pakistan’s most respected publications and the country’s largest English-language newspaper. She won Global Media Awards for her individual reporting in 1986 and in 2004.
Continue reading Zubeida Mustafa: Fighting for the Women and Children of Pakistan
Category Archives: Media
Profile: Zubeida Mustafa — A life less ordinary
We now know that it is a fallacy that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” for if this was a truism we would have studied “her story” as well as his, but if a woman wields a pen in her other hand then, through the power of her words, she can become a catalyst for change. Zubeida Mustafa, former Assistant Editor, Dawn and currently a widely-read columnist, nominated by the International Women’s Media Foundation for their Lifetime Achievement Award, is such a woman. The nomination describes Zubeida as a pioneer who paved the way for women in the media. Acknowledging that she did carve an opening by being incorporated at the policy-making level at Dawn, she emphasises that “if younger women hadn’t responded and seized the opportunity, the door that was opened would have shut. Without their presence where would my pioneering have gone!”
Continue reading Profile: Zubeida Mustafa — A life less ordinary
NON-FICTION: Keeping a record
Reviewed By Zubeida Mustafa
SALEEM Asmi has worn many hats. Beginning his professional life as a sub-editor in The Pakistan Times in 1959, he rose to be the editor of Dawn. Versatility is his virtue, which means his writings always have a freshness about them. Having known him professionally as a newsperson demonstrating his skills in the newsroom, and later as the editor of Dawn, one who was always willing to go an extra mile to test political waters, I was happy when I saw the collection of his writings from the early years, Saleem Asmi: Interviews, Articles, Reviews. The collection sheds as much light on the writer as the numerous personalities he interviews or writes about. We now see Asmi at his best, as an erudite critic of arts, culture and music.
Continue reading NON-FICTION: Keeping a record
Friends pay tribute to Zubeida Mustafa
KARACHI: Women activists, intellectuals, media persons, friends and fans joined hands to pay tribute to senior journalist Zubeida Mustafa at a programme organised by the Women Action Forum at the Karachi Press Club on Friday evening.
The guest of honour, Zubeida Mustafa, who recently won the prestigious International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Lifetime Achievement Award, was showered with rose petals by WAF workers as she arrived at the event. Continue reading Friends pay tribute to Zubeida Mustafa
Courage in Journalism Awards: IWMF Selects Outstanding 2012 Winners
An imprisoned Ethiopian newspaper columnist wrongly convicted of treason after criticizing the government, a Palestinian writer threatened and beaten for covering politics in Gaza and a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Azerbaijani investigative reporter targeted in a smear campaign after reporting on corruption are the IWMF’s 2012 Courage in Journalism Award winners.
Reeyot Alemu, 31, a columnist for the Ethiopian newspaper Feteh, is in prison for 14 years after being convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and participation in a terrorist organization. Asmaa al-Ghoul, 30, a Palestinian blogger and writer, regularly receives death threats and has been beaten by Hamas security forces while covering protests. Khadija Ismayilova, 35, a talk show host on RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service who covers corruption and abuse of power by the government elite, was threatened and had surveillance cameras planted in her apartment in an effort to silence her.
Pakistani media pioneer Zubeida Mustafa — the first woman reporter at Dawn English-language newspaper who promoted women’s equality in the newsroom — is the IWMF’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Continue reading Courage in Journalism Awards: IWMF Selects Outstanding 2012 Winners