KATHY GANNON
Past Shorenstein Fellow, Harvard University
SPECIAL FEATURE
HUM TV Women Leadership Award
I was deeply honoured to be among the amazing women receiving the 2026 HUM TV Women Leadership Award. The inspiring women included Ouided Bouchamaoui, Tunisian Nobel Laureate; Jehan Ara, leading innovator in the IT sector and start up field in Pakistan; Lal Pari, who delivered more than 800 babies to women living in the remotest northern regions of Pakistan, often travelling hours on foot to reach women in need; Amna Baloch foreign secretary, who broke glass ceilings to inspire the next generation of young women; Yasmin Quereshi, British Labor Member of Parliament, who bravely spoke for the Palestinians being killed in Gaza while others were silent, and others, whose accomplishments inspire us all.
HUM TV is one of the largest Entertainment and News TV channels in Pakistan, founded by a dynamic woman, Sultana Siddiqui, who continues to lead it.
She has done more for women of Pakistan than most governments do for women in most countries.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
As Leila Molana Allen and Saima Mohsin receive the 2024 Kathy Gannon Legacy Awards in London, they remind us of women journalists worldwide who continue to pursue truth and often contribute more to journalism than the stories they tell.
CFWIJ is proud to support and honor both winners.
Through the awards, CFWIJ reaffirms its commitment to Kathy Gannon’s values, encouraging a new generation of journalists to carry her legacy forward. We look forward to celebrating these courageous women and the power of journalism at the Rory Peck Awards in London on November 28.…READ MORE
Afghanistan after nearly three years away
For me Afghanistan is the people, the friends I have known for decades, and others I meet on the street, who smile, ask if they can help, put their hand to their heart to greet you.
Returning to Kabul after nearly three years was like coming home. Immediately the essence of Afghanistan emerged. At passport control, a smile, a hand to the heart and Salam-o-Alakum. The same from the bearded gentleman behind the counter that collects information from foreigners entering the country.…READ ON SUBSTACK
ABOUT KATHY
Kathy Gannon was a Joan Shorenstein Fellow for the 2022 fall semester at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. For 35 years she covered Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Associated Press as chief correspondent and later, news director. She has covered the 2006 war in south Lebanon, the Iraq war, the Central Asian States, and Azerbaijan. Gannon was the only Western journalist allowed in Kabul by the Taliban in the weeks preceding the 2001 U.S.-British offensive in Afghanistan.
In addition to her coverage of South Central Asia, she has covered the Middle East, including the 2006 Israeli war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and war in northern Iraq.
In April 2014 Gannon was seriously wounded—hit by seven bullets—while covering preparations for Afghan national elections when an Afghan police officer opened fire on the car in which she was riding. Her colleague and close friend, AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus, was killed in the attack.