Life of A Female Middle East Reporter (Part 2)

Anna Therese Day is a freelance journalist covering women’s issues and youth movements in the Arab Spring. Since 2007, her coverage has taken her to Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya. Safely back to her home base of Cairo, Day discusses the challenges involved in covering the Arab world as a young woman in this two-part series with PolicyMic. Click here to read Part 1.

She was targeted based on her gender and race and was subsequently terrorized, tortured, and traumatized for life.

Yemen’s repressive government, not surprisingly, was on Team Libya. After being repeatedly denied a visa to Yemen, David Dietz and I set off to east Libya, known as an “Al-Qaeda stronghold,” according to Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, the day after Osama bin Laden was killed. Fantastic, I thought to myself as we set out on our journey. Our trip, however, had been arranged through trusted contacts, and two phone companies had renewed cellular phone access to users in the East that enabled us to schedule our interviews. Before I knew it, we were bribing our way across the border and cruising along Libya’s Mediterranean coast with fiery young rebels en route to Benghazi. 

Photo Credit: Anna Therese Day