Kiran Nazish spent two decades as a journalist and foreign correspondent covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Mexico and many other places in a post 9/11 world for the New York Times, LA Times, MSNBC, ABC News, USA Today and many others. Witnessing the inequality and discrimination women journalists faced in newsrooms around the world, she founded the Coalition For Women In Journalism. An organisation that is closing the gender gap in the industry.
The CFWIJ is New York based but works globally with much of its work focused on support and advocacy for women, LGBTQ and non binary journalists.
In 2019, Kiran launched the Press Freedom Newsroom to bring awareness to how women journalists in particular are being targeted by repressive regimes. This newsroom covers violations from 142 countries around the world. Kiran’s career spans two decades, and many regions including the Middle East, South Asia and Mexico, where she covered stories from the frontline of conflict, democracy and human rights. She was also the Stanley Knowles Distinguished Professor in 2019 and 2020, and a senior fellow at New America Foundation in DC, where she shared her expertise in the International Security Program.
Kiran comes from Pakistan where she began her career working in print, radio and broadcast and then became a foreign correspondent, covering human rights issues from South Asia and Middle East (Nepal, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan). Kiran went on to cover terrorism and wars in Syria, Iraq, Turkey. She also reported from Mexico on drug cartels and terrorism courts and attacks in the United States.
Before Kiran’s initiative, launching the Press Freedom Newsroom, there was no systematic data for women targeted for their work.