Dispossession and Resilience: Experiences of Young Journalists
This session will involve the winners of the Journalist of the Year Award and will explore the role that dispossession has played in their work, and how resilience has been critical in their journalism.
Speakers
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Shaneel LalColumnist at the New Zealand Herald and Queer Rights ActivistShaneel Lal
Columnist at the New Zealand Herald and Queer Rights Activist
Shaneel Lal, of Indian and native Fijian descent, is a queer rights activist based in New Zealand. Lal successfully led the movement to ban gay and gender conversion therapy in New Zealand. Lal authored the bestselling book One of Them sharing their story of surviving conversion therapy in a conservative village in Fiji. Lal is involved in the movement to protect religious minorities, queer people and women from hate speech that incites violence and is working on changing blood donation policies to allow more gay men to be eligible to safely donate blood. Outside this, Lal has been advocating for an end to commercial greyhound racing. Lal has written for multiple New Zealand news media platforms including The New Zealand Herald, The Guardian and Stuff NZ with a focus on investigating and providing commentary on issues affecting indigenous peoples, young people and queer people. Lal strongly believes that journalism is necessary for a healthy democracy, and holds power to enact justice. Lal is a recent graduate of the University of Auckland Law School and is studying for a Master of Laws on treaty jurisprudence and indigenous rights. Lal has an interest in reforming youth justice systems, especially to ensure young people are rehabilitated and supported in society and do not become trapped in a lifetime of offending. In 2023, Lal became the first openly queer person to win an award from the New Zealander of the Year awards.
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César DezfuliJournalist and Documentary PhotographerCésar Dezfuli
Journalist and Documentary Photographer
Cesar Dezfuli (b. 1991) is a Spanish-Iranian journalist and documentary photographer whose work focuses on migration, human rights and international affairs. In 2016 he began working on his most renowned project named "Passengers", with which he aims to question the historical visual representation of migration. This project, which has already been exhibited in more than thirty countries and published in numerous international media, follows the story of 118 people rescued from a boat adrift in the Mediterranean, on their migratory route to Europe. Dezfuli, who has been accompanying and documenting their lives for the past eight years, advocates for the individualization of migration narratives and a more empathetic approaches that deconstruct stereotypes. He is currently working on the production of a documentary film on the project that will be released in the coming years, while focusing on the divulgation on migration matters, with numerous talks and workshops in journalism and human rights forums, such as the European Fundamental Rights Forum of Vienna in 2024, or the Athens iMEdD International Journalism Forum 2023. Dezfuli is a frequent contributor to Le Monde and De Volkskrant newspapers, while his work has been published in various international media such as The Guardian, TIME Magazine, Al Jazeera or the BBC. He has received several recognitions such as the World Press Photo award (2023), the European Press Prize (2023), the Catchlight Fellowship (2020) or the Pictures of the Year International prize (2018), among others. His work has been exhibited worldwide individually or as part of collective exhibitions at venues as the National Portrait Gallery (UK); the Museum of Sydney (AU); the European Center for the Arts (DE); the Kyotographie Festival (JP); or the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (USA).
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Ilia CalderónAnchor, Host and CorrespondentIlia Calderón
Counsellor
Anchor, Host and Correspondent
Univision NetworkIlia Calderón is the co-anchor of Univision Network’s flagship weekday evening newscast, “Noticiero Univision.” Calderón also anchors “Aquí y Ahora,” Univision’s primetime newsmagazine, and in July 2023 became host of the newly launched streaming true crime show “Señales de Crimen” on ViX. Calderón is a trailblazer. She is the first Afro-Latina to anchor an evening newscast for a major broadcast network in the United States. In September 2023, she co-moderated the first Spanish-language broadcast of a republican presidential primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, becoming the first Afro-Latina to do so. Calderón also made history as the first Afro-Latina to co-moderate a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2020. Additionally, in her native Colombia, she became the first Afro-Colombian to host "Noticiero CMI,” a national news program. As a respected journalist, Calderón has received several recognitions during her professional career, including two Emmy® Awards. In 2019, she was named one of Carnegie Corporation’s Great Immigrants Great Americans. In 2002, she was named one of the 100 most important Hispanic journalists by the Hispanic Media 100 organization.