World Press Freedom Day 2018

Gwen Lister is a journalist, columnist and press freedom activist. She founded The Namibian in 1985 at the height of colonial rule. The newspaper and was constantly the target of right-wingers because it exposed apartheid atrocities and supported the struggle for independence. Lister was jailed twice and won several international awards for her work. She was named a World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute (IPI) and received an international press freedom award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and a Courage in Journalism award from the International Womens Media Foundation (IWMF), among others. She is a founder of the International Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ) and currently heads the Namibia Media Trust which owns The Namibian, and which is active in promoting media freedom, free speech and journalist training. As a member of the Action Namibia coalition, NMT promotes an ATI regime in the country.