Nora Boustany

Nora Naaman Boustany is a Lebanese-American journalist and educator known for her coverage of the Middle East and human rights issues.[1][2]

Boustany worked for United Press International in Lebanon for two years following her graduate school education.[3] She had trouble getting a job in journalism initially in the 1970s because, as she was told by editors, she didn't have any experience and "they didn’t hire women."[4] She created a role for herself being a local expert, assisting well-known American and British correspondents who were in Beirut on short-term assignments.[4]

Boustany began freelancing for the Washington Post starting in 1979.[1] She was hired on as staff in 1988 at a time when many foreign correspondents had left Beirut for fear of being kidnapped.[4] In this situation, being female helped her, as she explained "It was believed...that it was safer for women because Islamic groups did not want to come in contact with females in a situation of captivity. We had tremendous access."[4] At the Post, she covered Lebanon’s war, Desert Storm, and the upheavals and struggles in Gaza and Algeria from her location in Beirut.[5] She was a correspondent in Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran, speaking four languages: English; Arabic; French; and German.[6] She wrote a column, Diplomatic Dispatches, about Washington's diplomatic community, that was published twice weekly.[7]

She won the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting in 1987 for her coverage of the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.[8][9] In 1992, she received a Distinguished Service award from the University of Wisconsin at Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.[10] She left the Washington Post in 2008 after a nearly 30-year career, taking an early retirement package when the Post cut its staffing by 10%.[11]

She was a Writer-in-Residence Fellow for the year 2009-2010 at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.[3] She currently teaches journalism at the American University of Beirut.[4] She serves on the board of directors of the Beirut Museum of Art.[12]

Early life and education

Boustany grew up in Beirut and has a twin sister and a brother.[6] She graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1975.[3] She earned her M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri in 1976.[1] She lives in Beirut.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Nora Boustany Profile". Who's Who of Distinguished Alumni. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  2. ^ "Nora Boustany named fellow at Issam Fares Institute". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  3. ^ a b c "Former Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon". Issam M. Fares. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Guys and Gal". Carnegie Middle East Center. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  5. ^ Boustany, Nora (2017-11-09). "Mindful Compassion". TED. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  6. ^ a b Homan, Timothy (2000-06-19). "Journalist driven by quest for truth". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  7. ^ "With the Taliban Defeated, Justice Is on Her Side (washingtonpost.com)". Entango. 2002-09-27. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  8. ^ "Kempton Is Winner Of George Polk Prize For 45-Year Career". The New York Times. 1988-02-28. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  9. ^ "Past Winners". Long Island University. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  10. ^ "Award Winners". School of Journalism and Mass Communication. 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  11. ^ Ahrens, Frank (2008-05-23). "Washington Post staff cut by 100". Monterey Herald (in Kinyarwanda). Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  12. ^ "Lebanon Through the Lens of Photography". The Media Line. 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  13. ^ "Lebanon's latest explosion". Center for Strategic and International Studies. 2020-08-24. Retrieved 2021-05-22.