Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship
The fellowship was established in 1949 with support from the Carnegie Corporation. Renamed in 1965 in honor of Edward R. Murrow, the fellowship is now made possible by a grant from the CBS Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The fellowship offers journalists who cover international affairs the rare opportunity to engage in sustained analysis and writing, free from the daily pressures that characterize journalistic life. The program’s goal is to promote the quality of responsible and discerning journalism that exemplified the work of Edward R. Murrow during his life.
The international community is increasingly concerned about whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai can be an effective partner. Karzai recently won another term after an election fraught with accusations of fraud; his previous term was beset with allegations of corruption.
"There is still quality overseas reporting being done by American journalists, but the old model of foreign correspondent--a reporter living in a country for years, learning the language and culture, the political players and tensions--is going the way of the teletype machine."
"The key to Afghanistan's future is its own government, its own warlords who are ministers and power brokers, and also key in my mind is going after those who are the threat to the United States and to the international community, which wouldn't be the Taliban as such or Mullah Omar but al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda affiliates"
Elizabeth Rubin is a contributing writer, covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, for the New York Times Magazine since 2003. She was the 2008–2009 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow, conducting research on the Afghan-American culture clash and its political consequences. Since the events of September 11, 2001, she has been writing from and traveling all over the Islamic world, attempting to bring a more nuanced understanding of these regions to American readers. Rubin has been a guest speaker at C-SPAN, CNN, PBS, and NPR.
Mohamad Bazzi is adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at CFR. He is also a journalism professor at New York University, where he teaches international reporting. He was the 2007-2008 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow. From 2003 until 2007, Bazzi was the Middle East bureau chief at Newsday, based in Beirut and responsible for covering the Arab world. He was the lead writer on the Iraq war and its aftermath, setting up Newsday bureaus in Baghdad and Beirut.