Zan Times Editor-in-Chief receives the Kathy Gannon Legacy Award
On Wednesday, February 15, Zan Times Editor-in-Chief Zahra Nader received the Kathy Gannon Legacy Award at the 23rd Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) gala called “A Night to Honour Courageous Reporting” in Toronto.
The Kathy Gannon Legacy Award was established by the Coalition For Women in Journalism (CFWIJ), a New York-based press freedom organization that works in 128 countries and also focuses on global peer support. The award “honours distinguished women journalists who continue doing that by breaking new barriers that come with journalism today, with great conscientiousness and bravery,” CFWIJ says on its website, while also underlining that it celebrates both camaraderie and spirit of peer-support.
The award is named after Kathy Gannon, the legendary journalist who spent decades reporting on Afghanistan and Pakistan. “This award celebrates the two things that must go hand in hand for women and minorities today; good journalism and a sense of camaraderie to one’s community,” explained Kiran Nazish, director of CFWIJ.
Its inaugural award went to two journalists: Zahra Nader and Joanna Chiu, international affairs journalist for the Toronto Star who is also chair of NuVoices.
In its announcement, CFWIJ paid tribute to Zahra Nader: “We recognize Zahra as a mission driven journalist who is making the industry better with her work that illuminates dark corners that will otherwise be unseen. In addition to her reporting, we recognize her sense of camaraderie, as she opens opportunities for many brave Afghan reporters on the ground through Zan Times.”
In accepting the award, Zahra Nader stated:
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to stand on this stage, and to speak about a difficult topic for any journalist: what we have lost.
I grew up in Kabul after the Taliban had been defeated in 2001. We had no electricity or running water, but the schools were open. And that was enough for us to build our future.
I am standing here because I had the opportunity to get an education, a right that is now denied to all women and girls in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
I am here accepting this award not only on my own behalf but on behalf of women journalists in Afghanistan who are being systematically erased, who have lost the ability to continue their work in public because they are women.
The truth that we cover these days is brutal. It burns to the bone. It traumatizes you. It is a nightmare that haunts us even in daylight.
Yet some refuse to accept loss at the hands of the Taliban.
Every day, my colleagues at Zan Times keep the world informed about what is happening in Afghanistan. They endure the brutal and traumatizing reality of life under Taliban rule, knowing that if the Taliban caught them, then they would be tortured, imprisoned, and god knows what would happen to them.
I wish they could be here today and accept this award with me because, truly, it is their courage and commitment to truth that make our work possible.
Tonight, I am here with one request. We need each and every one of you to speak up about what is happening in Afghanistan, about the worst women’s rights crisis of our time.
We must be clear about what is at stake: it is not only about the loss of women’s rights in Afghanistan, it is also about the loss of women’s rights around the world. For what the Taliban deny today, others can deny tomorrow.
Please speak up and also support those who continue to report the truth.
Thank you.
