For Release: March 31, 2009
For further information, contact:
Susan Albrecht (202) 429-3740
E-mail: salbrecht@pressfellowships.org

Washington, DC--The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) is a cultural and professional exchange program for journalists that spreads good will and good journalism around the world. This year's recipients--nine journalists from Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Uganda and Vietnam--will arrive in the United States on April 10 for nearly six months of journalism training in American newspapers.

Created in 1983 by Alfred Friendly, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former managing editor of The Washington Post, the program places mid-career print journalists from developing countries in America's best newsrooms as reporters for five months. The program, now in its 25th year, allows these journalists to participate first-hand in America's constitutionally protected news-gathering and news-writing processes. The Fellowships' purpose is to enable men and women who will be news media leaders in their own countries to observe free press standards being exercised in the U.S., 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.

Fellows spend the majority of their time reporting for American newspapers but are also encouraged to attend conferences and seminars, read journalism books and publications, and make short-term professional visits to organizations that are relevant to their work at home. Special AFPF seminars are organized for the Fellows at the beginning, middle and end of the program.

The two Daniel Pearl Fellows will be hosted by the Houston Chronicle and 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.

The 2009 Friendly Fellows, their home publications, home countries, and host publications are:

Mr. Shahzada Irfan Ahmed, The News International, Pakistan, The Houston Chronicle (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Ms. Sherine El Madany, Daily News Egypt, Egypt, Los Angeles Times (Daniel Pearl Fellow)
Mr. Jaideep Hardikar, Daily News and Analysis, India, Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale)
Mr. Marc Lourdes, The New Straits Times, Malaysia, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Mr. Rodney Muhumuza, Daily Monitor, Uganda, The Kansas City Star
Mr. Rodrigo Muzell, Zero Hora, Brazil, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Mr. Myoung-Hoon Suh, Money Today, South Korea, Los Angeles Business Journal
Ms. Huyen Thi Vu, The Guide, Vietnam, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mr. Zhiming Xin, China Daily, China, Saint Paul Pioneer Press

(To schedule an interview with any of the incoming Fellows or with Fellows in 78 countries from previous years, please contact Susan Albrecht, director of the AFPF program, at 202-429-3740 or salbrecht@pressfellowships.org.)