For the first time ever, the theme of World Press Freedom Day is “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis.” A healthy democracy depends on both a healthy ecosystem and a healthy news ecosystem. But environmental journalists are increasingly under attack around the world, as they seek to document the human and environmental effects of corruption and illegal exploitation of natural resources.
In advance of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, in partnership with the Society of Environmental Journalists, will celebrate the important role of environmental journalism and highlight the need to protect journalists around the world from surveillance, censorship, oppression, and violence.
Speaker Bios:
Amrita Gupta, Senior Editor and Content Officer, Earth Journalism Network
Amrita Gupta is Earth Journalism Network’s Senior Editor and Content Officer. She is a multimedia journalist, editor and media trainer with over 15 years’ experience reporting on food, agriculture, climate and the environment. Prior to joining EJN, she led Communications at the Agroecology Fund, a nonprofit grantmaking organization that supports grassroots food sovereignty advocacy in the Global South. Amrita was previously part of the editorial teams at Nature in Focus, a platform for wildlife and conservation stories in India, BBC Good Food India, HT Mint, and Time Out India. She has a master’s degree in Food Studies from New York University, and is based in New York.
Jeje Mohamed, Senior Manager for digital safety and free expression, PEN America.
Jeje Mohamed is the senior manager for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, where she works to equip journalists, academics, and writers with tools, safety tips, and resources to defend themselves against online harassment. She has over a decade of experience in journalism, human rights, and safety and security, including working as a journalist in Egypt and the United States to produce documentaries and podcasts on human rights abuses. She was previously a fellow with the International Women’s Media Foundation, where she developed holistic safety training programs and incident response support for journalists. She serves on the advisory board for the Coalition Against Online Violence and is a fellow with the Online News Association’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator.
Meaghan Parker, Public Policy Fellow, The Wilson Center; Chair, Future Council of the Society of Environmental Journalists
Meaghan Parker is a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center and was previously the executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) from 2018-2023. Prior to her time at SEJ, she was the senior writer/editor and partnerships director for ECSP and the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program of the Wilson Center. She was a founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning New Security Beat. She currently serves on the Board of The Uproot Project, the membership association for environmental journalists of color, as well as on the Advisory Council of Planet Forward, a project of George Washington University. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, JAWS (Journalism and Women Symposium), the National Association of Science Writers and The Uproot Project.
Sandhya Ravishankar, Independent Journalist
Sandhya Ravishankar is an investigative journalist based in Mumbai, India. She has covered illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu extensively for over nine years and has been subject to harassment, and threats, and has also battled court cases filed by the miners. Sandhya also won India’s prestigious Ramnath Goenka award for this reportage in 2018. She has been part of an award-winning international collaboration of investigative journalists led by Paris-based Forbidden Stories. Sandhya has an abundant love for environmental journalism, especially of the investigative kind, and she believes it is crucial to find and expose the power structures that seek to destroy the environment for profit alone. Sandhya has been adopted by four rescue dogs and she lives with them in Mumbai.
Jon Sawyer, CEO and President, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Jon Sawyer is CEO and president of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a nonprofit organization that funds independent reporting and supports a broad range of audience-centered engagement initiatives. Projects supported by the Center have won numerous prestigious awards, including Pulitzer Prizes, Peabodys, Robert F. Kennedy Awards, and more. Sawyer became the Center’s founding director in 2006, after a 31-year career with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was selected three years in a row for the National Press Club’s award for best foreign reporting, and his work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Inter-American Press Association, and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Clayton Weimers, Executive Director, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), USA
Clayton Weimers is the Executive Director of RSF USA, the North American branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). He oversees an office which monitors press freedom across English-speaking North America as well as advancing RSF’s global priorities to advocate for journalist safety and everyone’s right to information. His writing on press freedom has appeared in publications including the Washington Post, The Hill, and the Independent. He originally joined RSF USA as its Deputy Director for Advocacy after a career in political campaigns. He holds an AM in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a BA from Pitzer College.
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