UNITY Selects Young Journalists of Color to Cover UN High Level Meeting on AIDS

MCLEAN, Va., May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UNITY Journalists of Color, Inc. (UNITY), has partnered with UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) to award eight (8) journalists of color fellowships to cover the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS from June 6 to 11, 2011 in New York City.  An additional four young journalists from other regions of the world will also receive fellowships to cover the event.

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The 2011 UNITY Global Fellows – ages 21-30 – were selected from UNITY's alliance associations through a competitive application process.  The young journalists all have strong journalism backgrounds and will now have an opportunity to further sharpen their reporting skills by covering a major global event.

In addition to producing a newsletter that will be distributed to the UN delegates, the fellows will work in a multimedia newsroom producing video and online content for www.unitynews.org.  "This is a great opportunity for young journalists to get first-hand experience in covering a global issue," said John Yearwood, co-chair of UNITY's World Affairs Task Force.  "The fellows will work alongside a high caliber of mentors from around the country.''

"UNAIDS is pleased to partner with UNITY in offering this opportunity for young journalists of color to develop their reporting skills on this important global issue," said Djibril Diallo, senior adviser to the executive director of UNAIDS.

Thirty (30) years into the AIDS epidemic, the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS is expected to bring 5,000 delegates from 191 countries to review progress and chart the future course of the global AIDS response.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 60 million people have been infected and nearly 30 million have died of HIV-related causes. In 2009, there were 2.6 million new infections, a reduction of nearly 20 percent in the past 10 years, indicating stronger prevention efforts are achieving results.  

A full list and biographies of the selected fellows are available on the UNITY website.  

About UNITY: Journalists of Color (www.unityjournalists.org)

UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating for fair news coverage about people of color, and challenging news organizations at all levels to reflect the nation's diversity. UNITY is comprised of three national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association together harnessing their collective power to advance diversity in newsrooms.  In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY supports research and advocacy initiatives.

About UNAIDS (www.unaids.org)

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an innovative partnership that leads and inspires the world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. UNAIDS fulfills its mission by:

• Uniting the efforts of the United Nations system, civil society, national governments, the private sector, global institutions and people living with and most affected by HIV;
• Speaking out in solidarity with the people most affected by HIV in defense of human dignity, human rights;
• Mobilizing political, technical, scientific and financial resources and holding ourselves and others accountable for results;
• Empowering agents of change with strategic information and evidence to influence and ensure that resources are targeted where they deliver the greatest impact and bring about a prevention revolution; and
• Supporting inclusive country leadership for sustainable responses that are integral to and integrated with national health and development efforts.

Media Contact:
Onica N. Makwakwa, Executive Director
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.
Tel: (703) 854-3585
[email protected]

SOURCE UNITY: Journalists of Color