Hello America!

I never thought that I would set foot in the US of A anytime soon let alone the city of celebrity-dom – L.A., because coming from Malaysia, it is very expensive to travel all the way here. But guess what? I am finally here, thanks to the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship and Daniel Pearl Foundation.

I’m in the land where the press is free, tap water is safe to drink, sulphate-free shampoo is cheap and most importantly – the weather makes my hair behave. I am so lucky to be living with my foster family – Chris and Corie Fager, who are such gracious and kind people. While their homely and beautiful house is nestled within the confines of a plush suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles, it is great to see that they remain ever so humble by welcoming me and making me feel right at home.
As I landed at LAX, I was pleasantly greeted by Narda Zacchino, the executive director of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. I have the utmost respect for this lovely lady who had previously worked at the Los Angeles Times for over 30 years.
Ten days have gone by since I first landed in D.C. and I am looking forward for the days, weeks and months to come. It’s funny but I remember the evening I arrived at Dulles Airport in D.C. and met Katie Rudolph from Alfred Friendly Press Foundation for the first time. As I walked with her to her car, and being from Malaysia where we drive on the left (wrong) side of the street, I gravitated towards the right side of her car completely oblivious that I was in America. I hope she didn’t think I was trying to hijack her car. I can still laugh about it to myself like a blithering idiot.
I am writing this while feeling a bit anxious as I will start my stint at the Times in 12 hours and counting. Let’s just hope I don’t get lost on the subway getting there as I have yet to get my car. More importantly, let’s hope I don’t drive on to the pavement.

 

Life in the United States — the 2012 Alfred Friendly Fellows arrive!

WASHINGTON – The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) is pleased to announce the 2012 Fellowship Class.  The fellows arrive in the United States on March 22 for six months of journalism training in American news organizations. This marks the 29th year of the AFPF fellowship program.

The 2012 Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:

• Ms. Aida Ahmad, The Star, Malaysia, Los Angeles Times, Daniel Pearl Fellow
• Ms. Hee Joung Kim, Money Today, South Korea, Forbes magazine
• Mr. John Ngirachu, The Nation, Kenya, The Kansas City Star
• Mr. Adnan Rashid, iMedia, Pakistan, Berkshire Eagle/WAMC (Pittsfield, MA/Albany, NY), Daniel Pearl-Saleem Shahzad Fellow

Created by Alfred Friendly, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former managing editor of The Washington Post, the program places mid-career print journalists from emerging markets in America’s best newsrooms for five months. The program allows these journalists to participate first-hand in America’s constitutionally protected news-gathering and news-writing processes.

Jonathan Friendly, chairman of the Alfred and Jean Friendly Foundation Board and son of Alfred Friendly, said, “Our Fellows will have a special opportunity this year to be first-hand observers of the national elections and of how our news organizations cope with the coverage challenges. The experience will surely help them return home with new ideas about American democracy in action as well as practical approaches to improving political reporting in their home countries.”

The fellowships enable journalists who are future newsroom leaders to observe free press standards being exercised in the United States, to put those values into daily practice with the support and guidance of American colleagues, and to transfer knowledge gained on the program to colleagues at home.

“Next year will be the 30th anniversary of our program,” said Randall D. Smith, president of the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships. “Our new fellows take their place alongside many great and courageous journalists who are now making a difference in over 78 countries. We welcome them, and remain grateful to the Friendly family’s amazing vision.  The Friendly program is now playing a key role in most of the developing democracies. Some say that you can’t change the world. The Friendly family has proven that notion false.”

The two Daniel Pearl Fellows will be hosted by the Berkshire Eagle/WAMC (an NPR affiliate) and the Los Angeles Times. Underwritten by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, these special fellowships offered to journalists from Muslim countries since 2003, honor the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.  In 2012, one of the two fellowships also honors Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online who was killed in Pakistan in May 2011.