AILA Presents CNN Producer Kiran Khalid with 2011 Media Leadership Award
Monday, June 13, 2011
CONTACTS:
George Tzamaras / Amanda Walkins
202-507-7649 / 202-507-7618
gtzamaras@aila.org / awalkins@aila.org
SAN DIEGO, CA - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will award Kiran Khalid, a news producer for CNN's New York Bureau, the 2011 Media Leadership Award in recognition of the individual whose efforts in the media most accurately depict immigration and immigrants. Ms. Khalid will receive the award on June 16, 2011, during AILA's Annual Conference to be held in San Diego, CA.
Ms. Khalid is nationally recognized for her skillful coverage of compelling immigrant stories, most notably her work last fall to highlight a young woman who would benefit from the DREAM Act. In addition to producing a video that aired on CNN and CNN.com, Ms. Khalid closely followed the legislative path of the DREAM Act during the Lame Duck session of the 111th Congress in order to provide CNN on-air reporters with regular updates and information.
A broadcast journalist with more than 15 years of newsroom experience, Ms. Khalid has worked on-air for every network affiliate in markets including Austin, Mobile, San Francisco, Las Vegas and, most recently, New York City.
After September 11, 2001, she was one of the first American journalists to gain access into a Pakistani madrassa (religious school) to see firsthand what many were calling "terrorist breeding grounds." In August of 2005 she traveled to Niger and Mali to cover the famine that gripped the West African countries for CNN International. Those stories were showcased at the United Nations Film Festival as finalists in the "Stories from the Field" category. In 2007, she completed her second documentary, "We Are Not Free" about media censorship in Pakistan. In the tumultuous year that followed she covered the crumbling economy and the historic Presidential race for Good Morning America where her team won an Emmy. And in 2009, she traveled to Turkey and Ethiopia on a reporting fellowship about the world water crisis. Last year, she spent four months reporting and producing for CNN's Pakistan Bureau.
Currently, she resides in Manhattan where she works as a producer for CNN's New York Bureau and covers breaking news and stories in the Northeast corridor of the United States.
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The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.