REPORTERS ACROSS BORDERS

Ethar El-Katatney ( Today), Egypt An award-winning journalist, a blogger, and an author. She has worked as a staff writer at Egypt Today, the leading current affairs magazine in the Middle East, and at its sister magazine, Business Today Egypt. She was also a contributor to Muslimah Media Watch, a website that critiques how Muslim women are represented in the media and dpopular culture.

In 2009, her story The Business of Islam won the Economics and Business award in the CNN Multi-Choice African Journalist of the Year award–making her the first Egyptian to win one of the prestigious awards. In addition, her story Identity Crisis 101 was the winner of the press category in the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Journalist Award.

Dalia Ziada (Bikya Masr), Egypt Egyptian rights activist, blogger, laureate of Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Journalist Award, Tufts University Presidential Award, honored by Newsweek as one of 150 most influential women in the world, selected by Daily Beast as one of world’s 17 bravest bloggers, and labeled by Time magazine as rights champion. Dalia holds a BA degree in English Literature from Ain Shams University in Egypt; currently studying for Masters in International Relations at Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in the US.

Mohamed El Dahshan (Blogger) Egypt Al Masry Al Youm / New York Times Mohamed El Dahshan is an economist and writer.. He regularly contributes to the media. His articles have been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Guardian, Al-Masry Al-Youm, the Huffington Post, Daily News Hurriyet... He is a graduate of Cairo University, and holds master degrees from Sciences-Po Paris (M.Sc) and of Government (MPA/ID).

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Asmaa El Ghoul (Blogger) Palestine Asmaa is a young secular Palestinian feminist journalist who writes for the Ramallah-based newspaper Al-Ayyam. Al- Ghoul is described by the New York Times as "known for her defiant stance against violations of civil rights in Gaza ". At the age of 18, al-Ghoul won the Palestinian Youth Literature award. In 2010, she received a Hellman/Hammett award from Human Rights Watch. In 2012, al-Ghoul was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award by the International Women's Media Foundation. She works for 's Samir Kassir Foundation, which advocates for media freedom.

Abdel Aziz Hali (La Presse), Journalist-Reporter at La Presse de Tunisie. Was a visiting professor at ENIT, Journalist at Tunis Hebdo, L’EXPRESSION. Master's degree "Exploration & Mineral Valuation", Bachelor's Degree in Sciences of the Earth - Geology Resources.

Nada Abdel Samad (BBC ), Lebanon Author of the bestselling book 'wadi abou jamil' on Jews of Lebanon at Dar Annahar, Trainer - Professor at BBC World Service Trust. Was a lecturer at Special broadcast journalism course at AUB, lecturer at University of Balamand, News Editor at New TV Lebanon. Education: City University London.

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Mouna Abouissa (Le Monde Diplomatique), Egypt

Feature journalist for Maniere De Voir & Le Monde Diplomatique ( and UK) and The Middle-East Magazine. Winner of the Ibdaa International Media Award of Journalism in Dubai, 2008. Course leader at Literary Journalism workshop at Jenin Freedom Theatre in Palestine in 2012.

Sophie Chamas (Mashallah News), Lebanon

President of Samir Kassir FoundationSophie Chamas is a freelance writer based in the UAE, where she also serves as the in-house editor for the Sharjah Art Foundation. Work featured in Mashallah News, Kalimat Magazine, The State, Jadaliyya, Harper's Bazaar Art Arabia and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival Magazine . Master's in Near Eastern Studies from New York University.

Karim El Shenaoui (BBC Arabic), Egypt

Freelance Director for long fiction films, drama series, etc. Freelance Trainer and lecturer at the Royal Film Commission of , Save the Children, Al Andalus Institute for Nonviolence Studies. Award for Best short Feature of 2008 at Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival.

Rima Marrouch (RPR), Syria

Reporter for , LA Times, NPR, Al-Akhbar, Gazeta Wyborcza and Przeglad. Fulbright Fellow, MA in Journalism and Near Eastern Studies, September 2009 from New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science. Research Associate for the Committee to Protect Journalists in Middle East and North Africa Program.

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Zakia Abdennebi (Reuters),

Correspondent for Reuters in Morocco since 2003. Freelance journalist with Nobel Media Services, Associated Press TV and the BBC. Master’s in Journalism and Information Sciences from Tunis Institute for Media and Information Sciences (IPSI).

Iqbal Tamimi (Journomania), Palestine

Director of Arab Women Media Watch Centre, UK, since 2007 . Founder & Editor in Chief of the media campaigning http://journomania.net/ supporting Arab women journalists. Published two books; ‘Fadh Elmastoor’ (Revealing the Truth), on ethics of western journalists and writers in their coverage of international and Middle Eastern issues, published and ‘Between Two Commas’ (Poetry).

Mayada Shili (Radio Tunis), Tunisia

Broadcasts for Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale (RTCI) since 2005, Completed studies at l’Institut des Hautes études Commerciales (IHEC) in Carthage (licence en sciences comptables et master en management touristique. Participation in the project « Youth and work» produced by CIRTEF.

Rania Abouzeid (Lebanon) - The Newyorker

Middle East Correspondent for TIME since 2011. Work featured as Contributor to TIME and Foreign Policy magazines, Islamabad, Correspondent for TIME, Baghdad, Business Reporter, The National, Abu Dhabi, Freelance Reporter, and Damascus, Feature Writer, JazeeraNet, Beirut, The Daily Star, Beirut . University of Melbourne, Australia. Dentistry, Bachelor of Science, University of Melbourne, Australia.

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Faisal Al Yafai (UK) - The National

Chief columnist, Senior Feature Writer, Commissioning Editor at the National since 2011. Awards: Award for Excellence in Media, London 2010, Journalist of the Year, The Muslim Writers Awards, London 2009, The Guardian Diversity Award 2001. University of Sheffield - MA Journalism, University of Sheffield - BA (Honours) Philosophy.

Leila Gandi (Morocco) - 2M

TV host journalist, producer and director. holds degrees in both Business and Political science. She is a frequent contributor for papers, radio and tv programs. Her documentary series, "Voyage avec Leila Ghandi" puts cultural diversity in front of the lens. She has been recognized with various awards, including the Euro-Med Trophee at the French Senate in 2008, the USAID Literature Prize in 2009. In 2010, she was appointed as an Opinion Leader to the UN program Alliance of Civilizations. And named a “Woman of Excellence” by the Marseille European Capital of Culture, in 2012.

Amira Souilem (Tunisia) - France 2

Journalist and editor at France 2. Winner of the France Television Award 2007. Graduated for Journalism School, Master in Comparative Political Sciences supervised by Gilles Kepel. Worked in Egypt, Argentine, and Oman.

Nadine El Sayed (Egypt ) - 19TwentyThree

Founder and Managing Editor at 19TwentyThree.com online women’s magazine since October 2012. PhD in Media Studies, The University of Westminster, London (expected 2014), Master of Arts in Media Management, The University of Westminster, London. Bachelor of Business Administration and Arts, the American University in Cairo, January 2007.

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Basma Astassi (Syria) - Al Jazeera English Online

Al Jazeera journalist, WEF Global Shaper. LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (London, UK), MSc (Honours) in Human Rights, THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT (Beirut, Lebanon), BA in Political Science.

Hayam Hassan, Palestine – BBC Arabic

Broadcasting Journalist for BBC Arabic Service since 2011. MA Gender, Globalization and Development, City University, London , BSc Math and Computer, Al-Azhar University, Gaza Strip.

Ahmed Sami (Egypt) – ARTE

French Editor at Middle East News Agency. Works as a Correspondent for la Croix, ARTE, Europe1, COURRIER DE L’ATLAS. Master in Journalism from Cairo University and Paris University Assas II.

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