Jo-Anne McArthur, awarded the 2023 Women and Media Award from WIFP, delivered a talk in Brussels at the EU Parliament March 25th of this year, invited by the European Institute for Animal Law & Policy and the European Environmental Bureau. She spoke about ending the suffering of animals in factory farms. Her photos and that of several other photojournalists flanked the walls of the three-day exhibit, a powerful counter to the influence and pressure of agricultural lobbying. “Photojournalists go to difficult places to tell important stories. Their photos should then reach the media, shock and inspire regular folks, and be used by campaigners, litigators, and policy-makers. This trajectory of efforts changes culture, law, and history.” (4/3/25 newsletter, We Animals).

Jo-Anne has documented our complex relationship with animals in almost sixty countries. She is the founder of WeAnimalsMedia.org  and cofounder of The Unbound Project (unboundproject.org) which celebrates women animal advocates world-wide. Jo-Anne is the author of three outstanding books: We Animals, Captive, and Hidden. Subscribe to the newsletter via the website and consider becoming a contributor.

Jo-Anne McArthur

The Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) announced the recipients of the 2024 Women and Media Awards at a ceremony October 27th in Washington, DC.

WIFP honors six media women:

Ann Wright is a writer and a courageous activist for peace and justice. Her writings
have appeared in Common Dreams, LA Progressive, San Francisco Bay View, The
Union, ScheerPost, World BEYOND War, and CODEPINK, Women for Peace. She is
the co-author with Susan Dixon of Dissent: Voices of Conscience: Profiles of
Whistleblowers and Others Who Have Dared to Speak the Truth About the War in
Iraq.

Photo credit: Francois Achan

Ann Wright is a retired U.S. State Department official and retired U.S. Army Colonel who
spoke out against the Iraq War. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia,
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. She received the
State Department Award for Heroism in 1997. In March 2003 she resigned from the
State Department the day before the onset of the Invasion of Iraq in protest of the war.
She has since dedicated herself to peace and justice issues, writing knowledgeably for
many varied sources to inform the public about vital issues. She works closely with
many women’s organizations including Code Pink: Women for Peace and Women
Cross DMZ.Ph

Mariam Barghouti is a Palestinian-American writer, blogger, researcher, commentator,
and journalist. She lives in Ramallah. Her political commentary and research work has
been notably featured in CNN, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post,
New York Times, Middle East Monitor, Newsweek, Mondoweiss, International Business
Times and TRT World.

Maha Nazih Al-Hussaini is an award-winning journalist and human rights activist
based in Gaza. Maha started her journalism career by covering Israel’s military
campaign in the Gaza Strip in July 2014. In 2020 she won the Martin Adler Prize for her
work as a freelance journalist. She is the director of strategies at the
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in Geneva, Switzerland. The International
Women’s Media Foundation rescinded their 2024 Courage in Journalism Award to
Maha Hussaini under pressure. This will not happen with the WIFP Award.

Hind Osama Al-Khoudary is a Palestinian journalist based in the Gaza Strip. She has
reported for multiple media outlets including Al Jazeera English, Middle East Eye, +972
Magazine, RT, The Intercept, and Anadolu Agency.

Lara J. Bitar is an independent media worker based in Beirut, Lebanon, and the
founding editor of journalist-run publication, The Public Source. She contributes reports
on social movements and civic unrest to grassroots media projects in the U.S. and
Lebanon and writes for regional and feminist publications.

Ghadi Francis is a Lebanese journalist and war correspondent. She is a field
correspondent, program producer and writer. She reports on Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon,
Syria, Israel and more with thousands of articles on the region and Arab countries. In
2011 she published a book in which she collected her testimony about the Syrian war
entitled My Pen and My Pain – One Hundred Days in Syria.

WIFP announced the recipients of the 2023 Women and Media Award October 29th at a celebration in Washington, DC.

The annual Awards are granted to women who have made outstanding contributions seeking media democracy and toward expending women’s voices.

This year, WIFP honored seven deserving media women.

Briahna Joy Gray is an American political commentator, lawyer, and political consultant who served as the National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. Formerly a columnist and Senior Politics Editor at the Intercept, she was also contributing editor to Current Affairs Magazine. Joy Gray has written for the Guardian, New York Magazine, and Rollings Stone. She currently co-hosts The Hill’s Rising. Her popular podcast is called Bad Faith.

Mnar Adley is founder, CEO, and editor in chief of MintPress News, an independent watchdog journalism organization that provides issue-based original reporting, in-depth investigations, and thoughtful analysis of the most pressing topics facing our nation. Adley is also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, and neo-conservativism within the media and journalism start-ups.

Catherine Murphy is a DC-based filmmaker who has spent much of her life living and working in Latin America. She is founder and director of The Literacy Project, a multi-media documentary project on literacy in the Americas. Her films explore the intersection of education and justice movements in the Americas.

Fiorella Isabel is a journalist and geo-political analyst. She is the co-host of the Convo Couch which airs on independent media platforms like Rokfin, Rumble, and YouTube. Fiorella Isabel reports for RT (Russia Today) and currently lives in Moscow.

Kimberlie Kranich is Director of Community Content and Engagement at WILL AM-FM-TV (25 years). She is senior manager and a member of the Leadership Team. Her expertise is in managing a diverse pool of public media talent across multiple platforms with multiple community partners. Kranich has been an Associate of WIFP since she first joined as an intern in 1988.

Jo-Anne McArthur is a photographer and the founder of We Animals media. She is the cofounder of The Unbound Project which celebrates women animal advocates worldwide. Documenting our complex relationship with animals in almost sixty countries for over fifteen years, McArthur is the author of three books, We Animals, Captive, and Hidden.

Alexis Baden-Mayer, Esq. is Political Director of the Organic Consumers Association. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a network of more than 1 million activists committed to creating a healthy, just, democratic, and regenerative food system. Baden-Mayer is a key organizer of some of OCA’s most popular campaigns, including the “Monsanto Makes Us Sick” campaign to ban Roundup.

Emergency Actions To Support Julian Assange If He Is Extradited

• By Assange Frontline Defense, Popular Resistance.

• September 26, 2023

As Julian Assange’s options to appeal the decision to extradite him to the United States are being exhausted, he could be extradited as early as the beginning of October. We must be prepared to support him and fight for his release in the United States.

It is time to start planning now in your organization or community for emergency actions as soon as we become aware that he is being extradited (if there is a warning) or as soon as he is on his way (if it happens without warning).

If there is a warning, all focus will be on the British Embassy to protest their extradition. You can join the rally in Washington DC or hold an action locally in a highly visible place.

If Julian is transported to the United States without warning, we will protest at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC and then move to the Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. Local solidarity actions could take place at Federal Courthouses or highly trafficked areas.

Please sign onto the pledge at PopularResistance.org to take emergency action as an individual or organization and they will keep you informed plus provide an action toolkit to you.

Pledge

If Julian Assange is extradited to the United States, I/my organization will join the emergency actions across the nation to show support for Assange and to demand that the Biden administration drop the charges. Publishing true information is the right of all journalists and media outlets. Access to information is the right of all people.

https://popularresistance.org/all-out-for-assange-emergency-actions-if-he-is-extradited/

#FreeAssange #PressFreedom

Recipients of the 2022 Women and Media Award were announced on the occasion of WIFP’s 50th Anniversary, October 23, 2022:
Shireen Abu Akleh (posthumous), Birgitte Jallov, Sabrina Salvati, Frieda Werden, Abby Martin, Ariel Dougherty, Katie Halper, Rania Khalek, Kim Iversen, and Jennifer Barckley.

Birgitte Jallov

Birgitte Jallov is the founding Director of EMPOWERHOUSE, an initiative to advance communities access to strong, sustainable community media, which Birgitte has worked to advance since the early 80s where she was a part of the budding community radio movement in her home country of Denmark. Since then Birgitte has worked systematically with documenting how community media can advance women’s voices, rights and empowered lives in more than 70 countries worldwide, based on which she is presently preparing a podcast series about “Women on the Global Community Airwaves.” Birgitte is the author of EMPOWERMENT RADIO – Voices building the community on how to build sustainable community radio.

Sabrina Salvati

Sabrina Salvati is the host of Sabby Sabs podcast and the co-host of Revolutionary Blackout Network. She is also an activist and a former educator. As a military child, she spent most of her childhood growing up overseas Sarina’s platform focuses on censorship, healthcare, education, criminal justice and the failures of the two party system in the United States. Sabrina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Education degree from Northeastern University.

Frieda Werden

Frieda Werden is the co-founder and series producer of the long-running radio series WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service. The series is produced in collaboration with women radio producers from around the world, and distributed to community radio stations in multiple countries. Prior to co-founding WINGS, Frieda had a background in radio production with Longhorn Radio Network and National Public Radio. She also worked in print media and as Associate Curator of the Texas Women’s History Project. In 2002 Frieda and her partner Suzette Cullen relocated to Canada where she continues to produce the WINGS program.

Abby Martin

Abby Martin is an American journalist, TV presenter and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website Media Roots and serves on the board of directors of the Media Freedom Foundation, which manages Project Censored. In 2019, she launched The Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom, an investigative documentary.

Ariel Dougherty

Ariel Dougherty is an independent filmmaker and feminist media strategist. Her work is grounded in fifty years of media advocacy for women’s cinematic story-telling, encouraging it to unleash from patriarchal domination. Co-founder of Women Make Movies, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, she has mentored hundreds of women filmmakers, produced many dozens of works, and directed eight films of her own. She writes about the intersection of feminist media, women’s rights, and funding. She is completing a book about community-based feminist teaching groups, their successes and challenges.

Katie Halper

Katie Halper is a journalist, writer, filmmaker, podcaster and political commentator. She began her career performing as a stand-up comedian, including performing at Netroot Nation and on the annual Seminar Cruise of The Nation magazine. She is the host of the podcast The Katie Halper Show and co-host of the podcast Useful Idiots with Matt Taibbi. The Katie Halper Show takes a humorous look at the news segments and conversations with writers, journalists, activists, artists, and political comedians. 

Rania Khalek

Rania Khalek is a Lebanese-American journalist for Breakthrough News, where she hosts the show Dispatches. She also co-hosts the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast with Kevin Gosztola. Based in Beirut, Lebanon, she has written for many outlets, including The Nation, The Intercept, Al Jazeera, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), Salon, Vice, AlterNet, Truthout, and the Electronic Intifada, where she served on the editorial board. She has reported from around the world, including the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Latin America, where she has focuses on wars and the impact of imperialism. She has also covered social justice issues in the U.S., with a focus on racism, inequality, and police brutality.

Kim Iversen

Kim Iversen is a syndicated talk show host and co-founder of The Left Media Network, and the Kim Iversen Show. Kim as long been interested in polarization, immigration, Supreme Court rulings, policy, and social issues. She served as a spokesperson for Stop Child Trafficking Now which raises awareness and money to help victims of sex trafficking. Her mother is a Vietnamese refugee and her father is the son of a small town farmer Kim studied Philosophy with an emphasis in Ethics at the University of California – Davis.

Jennifer Barckley

Jennifer Barckley is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for The Humane League, a global nonprofit ending the abuse of animals raised for food. Her life and career are centered around nourishing people and our planet – through care, curiosity, kindness, and plants.

Shireen Abu Akleh

Shireen Abu Akleh is a palestinian-American journalist who worked for the Arab-language channel Al Jazeera for 25 years, reporting for decades in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories. On May 11, 2022, while wearing a blue vest with “PRESS” written on it, she was shot and killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) while covering a raid. She was one of the first female field reporters in the Arab world. [Shireen’s niece Lina Abu Akleh is receiving the Award on her behalf.]