Kathy M. Gannon is a Canadian journalist and news director of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Gannon was attacked and wounded while reporting from Afghanistan. Her German colleague,

Anja Niedringhaus Anja Niedringhaus (12 October 1965 – 4 April 2014) was a German photojournalist who worked for the Associated Press (AP). She was the only woman on a team of 11 AP photographers that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography f ...

, was mortally wounded. Gannon has received extensive coverage as she struggled to recover from her wounds and return to war reporting.Now Senior Fellow, media centre at Harvard Kenedy School.

Biography

Gannon was born in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

, Ontario. She has reported on Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1988. In 2002, the

International Women's Media Foundation The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

presented her with the Courage in Journalism Award. In 2003, she was awarded a one-year Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship from the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

. Gannon is the author of '' I is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror in Afghanistan''. She was the 2015 recipient of the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage from the

Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. Established in 1915, Grady College offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, advertising, public re ...

. Gannon had spent 18 years, reporting from Afghanistan prior to her attack, and was the Associated Press's regional chief. Gannon and Niedringhaus were in a convoy of journalists, reporting on the national elections, protected by elements of the

Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

and

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

. When the vehicles were stopped, one of the commanders, named Naqibullah, of the police contingent took his rifle, yelled " Allahu Akbar!", and fired into their vehicle at close range. He then sat down and surrendered to his colleagues.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gannon, Kathy 1954 births Living people 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Associated Press reporters Canadian women journalists Journalists from Ontario War correspondents of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Writers from Timmins