The Carter Center Includes Romania in Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism Program

Contact: Emily Staub
Telephone: 404-420-5126
E-mail: [email protected]

ATLANTA...The Carter Center Mental Health Program has awarded two Romanian journalists with the eleventh annual Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. This will be the first year that journalists from the Eastern European country will participate in the program. The journalists will join a class of six other fellows from the United States and two from southern Africa. The journalism fellowships are part of an international effort by the Carter Center Mental Health Program to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses by decreasing incorrect and stereotypical information in the media.

"Informed journalists can have a significant impact on public understanding of mental health issues, as they shape debate and trends with the words and pictures they convey," Mrs. Rosalynn Carter said. "They influence their peers and stimulate discussion among the general public, and an informed public can reduce stigma and discrimination."

The new fellows will convene in Atlanta at The Carter Center on Sept. 17-19, 2007, to meet with Mrs. Carter, the Mental Health Task Force, other Rosalynn Carter fellows and the Journalism Fellowship Advisory Board.  The projects of the inaugural class of Romanian fellows will be to work collaboratively to develop a curriculum and relevant teaching materials for courses aimed at promoting more responsible mental health journalism.

Since the beginning of the Center's journalism fellowship program, more than 100 newspaper and magazine articles have been written, five books published, four television documentaries produced, and hundreds of minutes of radio time aired. Fellows' projects have garnered awards from Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association), the American Psychological Association, Amnesty International, and the Association of Healthcare Journalists, as well as Emmy Award nominations and two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.  To view projects completed under the auspices of the Fellowship Program, visit the online archive at www.cartercenter.org.

The 2007-2008 Romanian fellows are:

Paul Radu
Co-Founder, Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism
Investigative Journalism Trainer and Investigative Projects Coordinator
Bucharest, Romania
 
Alexandru Ulmanu
Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Bucharest
Universitatea Media
Bucharest, Romania

The two Romanian journalists will join eight other 2007-2008 Rosalynn Carter Fellows, including six from the United States and two from southern Africa:
 
Ilse Pauw
Senior Writer/Editor
Health24.com
Cape Town, South Africa

Andrea Petersen
News Editor
The Wall Street Journal
Brooklyn, NY, USA

Molly Knight Raskin
Freelance Journalist
Washington, DC, USA

Kevin Roy
News Anchor/Reporter
WLS-TV, ABC7 Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA

Marc Shaffer
Documentary Filmmaker
Oakland, CA, USA

Chandra Thomas
Staff Writer
Atlanta Magazine
Atlanta, GA, USA

Gregory Warner
Freelance Journalist
New York, NY, USA

Pieter van Zyl
Senior Writer 
Media 24
Cape Town, South Africa

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"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."
The Carter Center celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2007. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers in developing nations to increase crop production. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. Please visit www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.