The Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press2020 Women and Media Award
On November 8th the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press presented six outstanding media women each with the annual 2020 Women and Media Award: Anya Parampil, Alina Duarte, Esther Iverem, Medea Benjamin, Dr. Margaret Flowers, and Eleanor Goldfield.
The Women and Media Award is given to those who make substantial contributions on behalf of media democracy. WIFP is honored to have this opportunity to recognize their work.
The exceptional contributions each of these media women are making will be evident as you explore their work. When it is challenging to get accurate and reliable information in our current media environment, voices as these are invaluable. Be sure to support these first-rate reporting and creative endeavors.
Anya Parampil
Anya Parampil is the host of “Red Lines” at The Grayzone. She has produced and reported several documentaries, including on-the-ground reports from the Korean peninsula, Palestine, Venezuela, Honduras, and Bolivia.
https://thegrayzone.com/red-lines/embed/#?secret=j70ayzeUD0
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Alina Duarte
Independent Journalist
Former Producer and Correspondent Mexico & U.S. for TeleSUR
Former Correspondent for La Radio del Sur, Caracas, Venezuela
“I am a Xochimilca journalist, feminist, socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist.”
“I am originally from a magical place in the south of Mexico City called Xochimilco, specifically from a town at the top of the mountain called Santa Cecilia Tepetlapa.”
“I also assume I am a feminist. In a country marked by 10 femicides a day such as Mexico, talking about gender violence is talking about daily life in our homes, schools, factories, streets, talking about violence everywhere. Not only is patriarchal violence going through us like millions of women in the world, in Mexican territory we are also going through a civil war that was falsely called by Felipe Calderón in 2012 “ war against drug trafficking ” but that in reality was a civil war that destroyed our country and whose consequences we continue to pay every day, especially women, our women’s bodies are trafficked, raped, beaten, violated in a thousand ways every day. It seems that being Mexican implies that speaking out as a feminist is only a matter of time, it is trying to avoid that death sentence that becomes inevitable for you and for the women around you. I discovered violence after violence, bullet after bullet. The names of the women we most admire, love, love, have become plaques on monuments and on the streets that demand justice.”
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Margaret Flowers
Margaret Flowers, MD, is a mother of three young adults and retired pediatrician living in Baltimore, Maryland. She left medical practice in 2007 to advocate full time for a single payer healthcare system. She served as a Congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program in 2009-10 and is adviser to the board. She co-founded the Maryland Health Care is a Human Right campaign. Flowers was a principal organizer of the occupation of Freedom Plaza in 2011. In 2012, Flowers launched the show Clearing the FOG with her partner Kevin Zeese on We Act Radio in Anacostia. That show continues today as a podcast and on Pacifica Radio. Flowers and Zeese ran It’s Our Economy, which advocated for economic democracy. They organized national and local economic democracy conferences. In 2013, Flowers and Zeese co-founded Popular Resistance, a daily movement news website that covers resistance campaigns and work to create alternative systems in the United States and around the world. Popular Resistance also organizes campaigns and participates in coalitions on issues for economic, racial and environmental justice and peace. Flowers’ writing has been featured in a variety of progressive online outlets. She was interviewed on Bill Moyers’ Journal twice and has appeared on programs such as Democracy Now, MSNBC, Fault Lines, RT America and others.
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Esther Iverem
Author, Artist and Activist
Esther Iverem is a multi-disciplinary writer, artist, curator and independent journalist. Her diverse body of work, which includes a show on Pacifica Radio, four books, two digital media projects and several visual art exhibits, is about social justice and human existence. She is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a 2018 Fellowship in the Humanities from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and a National Arts Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University.
Radio Host and Producer of “On The Ground Show.”
Former Professor at Howard University
Former Culture Writer and Critic at The Washington Post
Former journalist at New York Newsday
Former journalist at The New York Times
Studied journalism at Columbia University
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Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years. Described as “one of America’s most committed — and most effective — fighters for human rights” by New York Newsday, and “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide.
She is the author of ten books, including Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection. Her most recent book, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is part of a campaign to prevent a war with Iran and instead promote normal trade and diplomatic relations.
Her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Guardian, The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and The Hill. Medea can be reached at: medea@codepink.org or @medeabenjamin.
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Eleanor Goldfield
Journalist, Filmmaker, Creative Activist
Eleanor Goldfield is a creative radical, journalist and filmmaker. Her reporting work has appeared on Press TV, RT America, and Free Speech TV where she produced and hosted the weekly radical news show, Act Out! for five years. It was the second most watched program on the network.
Her print work has appeared via Mint Press News, ROAR, Popular Resistance, Truthdig and more.She is currently a board member of the Media Freedom Foundation.
Her first documentary, “Hard Road of Hope,” covers past and present radicalism in the resource colony known as West Virginia. Thus far, the film has garnered international praise, a best woman filmmaker award and has Official Selection laurels in 8 film festivals including Cannes Independent.
Previously, she founded, fronted and managed the political hard rock band, Rooftop Revolutionaries who released four albums and toured throughout the United States, opening for celebrity acts such as Tom Morello on several occasions. Their music has appeared in films, on radio and TV.
Her first book, a compilation of spoken word poetry, Paradigm Lost, was released in 2016 and received critical acclaim for the combination of radical poetry and radical visual art, as each poem is accompanied by artwork from artists around the world such as Tammam Azzam, Recycled Propaganda, Lucy Dyer and more.
Currently, Eleanor is the host of the podcast Act Out! and the co-host of the podcast Common Censored along with Lee Camp as well as the Silver Threads Podcast with carla bergman. She regularly contributes to several other podcasts including By Any Means Necessary, Economic Update with Richard Wolff, Fault Lines and more.
Her work as a community organizer is based on mutual aid principles and direct action.
As an artist, her work typically combines live music, spoken word and projected visuals. Besides touring, performing and media work, she also assists in frontline action organizing and activist trainings.
