FY 2000-2001 Annual Report
Supporting Worldwide Press Freedom

Using the Internet as a powerful, instantaneous way to unite its network, the IWMF advocates for worldwide press freedom. When the rights, liberties and lives of journalists in the network are threatened, the IWMF can organize a protest and give network members the opportunity to support one another and international freedom of the press. In the last year, the IWMF has become involved in the following threats to network members: Norah Appolus, Lilanne Pierre-Paul, Marie Colvin, Raghida Dergham.

Norah Appolus

Norah Appolus, head of news at Namibian Broadcasting Company, faced what she regarded as an issue of press freedom in her country. Appolus, one of only three women in the company's top management, was demoted and locked out of her office, because the board of directors disagreed with her handling of the news.


Journalists from the IWMF worldwide network joined IWMF co-chairs Carole Simpson and Cynthia Tucker in writing a letter to both the chairperson of the NBC board of directors and the Namibian minister of foreign affairs, who has direct responsibility for public broadcasting. The letter requested a fair hearing for Appolus, who hired an attorney to fight her case. Eventually, Appolus reached a settlement with NBC. She still works for the Namibian public broadcasting organization.

Lilianne Pierre-Paul

Imagine attending a press conference covered by the political party about to take office. Then imagine that instead of political posturing, you hear your name being added to a hit list. That's what happened to Lilianne Pierre-Paul, winner of a 1990 Courage in Journalism Award.

Pierre-Paul, co-owner of Radio Kiskeya in Haiti, attended a press conference called by Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of Jean Bertrand-Aristide, then president-elect of Haiti. Along with some 100 others, Pierre-Paul was accused of forming an "unofficial" government to counter Artistide. That evening unidentified persons threw a gasoline-filled container into the courtyard of Radio Kiskeya. Fortunately, the container did not ignite and no one was hurt. Phone threats continued for several weeks. Pierre-Paul's crime? She had accurately reported on the hotly contested 2000 presidential election. The IWMF, along with numerous other press freedom organizations, sent a letter to Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard asking him to guarantee press freedom in Haiti.

"Death threats against journalists whose only offense is that they seek to report the news are simply unacceptable," wrote IWMF Co-Chairs Bailey Morris-Eck and Carole Simpson. Pierre-Paul is still broadcasting.

Marie Colvin

Marie Colvin, winner of a Courage in Journalism Award in 2000, was hit by shrapnel in her chest and left eye while covering a battle between rebels and government troops in Sri Lanka in April 2001. She later lost sight in her eye. While Colvin was being treated in a Colombo hospital, the Sri Lankan government issued a three-page statement criticizing her for traveling to rebel-held areas, failing to tell the government where she was going and overstaying by a week on her visa. The government then tightened restrictions for visiting foreign correspondents. Shortly after that, Colvin was flown by her employer, The Sunday Times in London, to New York for treatment.

On April 27, the IWMF co-chairs were joined by women journalists from around the world in sending a letter to the president of Sri Lanka urging her "to develop the means to ensure that all reporters --Sri Lankan journalists as well as foreign correspondents -- will be able to report fairly on the current conflict." After treatment, Colvin returned to her home in London, but has not regained her eyesight.

Raghida Dergham

Press freedom in Lebanon was the issue when the IWMF supported board member Raghida Dergham, the respected senior diplomatic correspondent based in New York for Al-Hayat, a leading Arabic language newspaper. Dergham was indicted by a Lebanese military court for "dealing with the enemy," a charge that amounts to treason. Her offense was appearing on a panel with a former coordinator of Lebanon policy for the Israeli Defense Ministry. Lebanese authorities had already seized Dergham's passport in June 2000, so this was the latest development in a yearlong campaign against her. Several sources speculated that the Lebanese American journalist was being punished for her balanced reporting on the Middle East.

The IWMF co-chairs, joined by a worldwide network of women journalists, protested to the Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud. Dergham's case "has larger, more serious implications for press freedom in Lebanon," they wrote. Raghida Dergham continues to report from New York. The Lebanese court has not backed down from its charges.