Sara Rafsky, former research associate in CPJ’s Americas program, is a freelance journalist and M.S. candidate in Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was previously researcher on Central America at Amnesty International in Mexico City.
Solomon Abera worked as a reporter, presenter, producer, and commentator with Eritrea’s government-controlled national radio station Dimtsi Hafash following independence in July 1991. In 2003, he also began working as a presenter with state broadcaster Eri-TV and state-controlled youth radio Radio Zara. He defected in March 2005 after enduring government censorship and intimidation.
John Otis, CPJ’s Andes correspondent for the Americas program, works as a correspondent for Time magazine and the Global Post. He authored the 2010 book Law of the Jungle, about U.S. military contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels, and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.
CPJ Middle East and North Africa Research Associate Dahlia El Zein, a Lebanese native who grew up in Cairo, received her master’s degree in Arab studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. She speaks Arabic fluently and has traveled widely in the Middle East.
Journalist Assistance Program Associate Sheryl A. Mendez is an editor and photojournalist who has worked in international hot spots such as Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. She has a master’s degree in International Affairs specializing in conflict and security from the New School for Social Research in New York.