Mae Azango

{{short description|Liberian journalist for FrontPage Africa|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = Mae Azango | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = Reporting on female genital mutilation | occupation = Journalist | awards = CPJ International Press Freedom Award (2012)<br/>CJFE International Press Freedom Award (2012) }} '''Mae Azango''' is a Liberian journalist for ''FrontPage Africa''. She is particularly known for her reports on female genital mutilation (FGM), which helped suspend the practice in the nation.<ref name=FP /> In 2012, she was awarded the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

== Early life == Azango is the daughter of Robert G. W. Azango, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia. In 1990, during the First Liberian Civil War, he was dragged from the family home during breakfast and beaten by members of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, later dying in jail from his injuries.<ref name=NN>{{cite web|url=http://www.newnarratives.org/fellow/mae-azango/ |title=Mae Azango, Reporter |publisher=New Narratives |archivedate=2 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902110304/http://www.newnarratives.org/fellow/mae-azango/ |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Mae Azango gave birth to her first child during the war, at the age of 18. Forced to use a traditional midwife, Azango stated that the superstitious midwife beat her during the birth and accused her of being an adulteress.<ref name=FP>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/11/labor_pains |title=Labor Pains |author=Mae Azango |date=May 11, 2012 |work=Foreign Policy |archivedate=18 August 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818195257/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/11/labor_pains |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Azango later became a refugee.<ref name=CPJ>{{cite web|url=http://cpj.org/awards/2012/mae-azango-liberia.php |title=Mae Azango, Liberia |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |archivedate=20 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920145449/http://cpj.org/awards/2012/mae-azango-liberia.php |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Journalism == Azango returned to Liberia in 2002 and began work as a journalist.<ref name=CPJ /> Topics of her reporting included abortion, illegal mining, rape, teen pregnancy, and work conditions on projects funded in Liberia by Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.<ref name=DB>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/23/liberian-writer-mae-azango-forced-into-hiding-for-story-on-female-genital-cutting.html |title=Liberian Writer Mae Azango Forced Into Hiding for Story on Female Genital Cutting |author=Danielle Shapiro |date=23 March 2010 |work=The Daily Beast |archivedate=9 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909140631/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/23/liberian-writer-mae-azango-forced-into-hiding-for-story-on-female-genital-cutting.html |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2011, she documented the rape of a 13-year-old girl by a police officer, causing him to later be arrested.<ref name=CPJ /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1466:my-life-is-threatened-says-rape-victims-mother&catid=67:news&Itemid=144 |title='My Life is Threatened' - Says Rape Victim's Mother |author=Mae Azango |date=4 October 2011 |work=FrontPageAfrica |archivedate=10 June 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610220050/http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1466:my-life-is-threatened-says-rape-victims-mother&catid=67:news&Itemid=144 |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Reporting on female genital mutilation == Azango is best known for her reporting on FGM, a traditional practice in which the clitoris and part of the labia are amputated, often in unsanitary conditions, by members of the secret Sande society. An estimated 58% of Liberian women went through some form of the procedure.<ref name=DB /> Azango wrote her first story on the topic in 2010. Explaining her choice to write on the "taboo" topic, she stated, "A lot of people don't have a voice. If I don't write about it, how will people know about it?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/04/liberian-journalist-mae-azango-talks-of-cold-threa.php |title=Liberian journalist Mae Azango on cold threats, hot stories |author=Nicole Schilit |date=27 April 2012 |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |archivedate=3 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903075726/http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/04/liberian-journalist-mae-azango-talks-of-cold-threa.php |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 8 March 2012—International Women's Day—she published a story in ''Front Page Africa'' telling of a woman who was held down by five other women while her clitoris was amputated.<ref name=DB /><ref name=CSM>{{cite web|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2012/0529/Mae-Azango-exposed-a-secret-ritual-in-Liberia-putting-her-life-in-danger/(page)/2 |title=Mae Azango exposed a secret ritual in Liberia, putting her life in danger |author=Jina Moore |date=29 May 2012 |work=Christian Science Monitor|archivedate=23 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923170358/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2012/0529/Mae-Azango-exposed-a-secret-ritual-in-Liberia-putting-her-life-in-danger |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The story detailed the procedure, which the Sande consider secret. The paper received so many threats the day that the story appeared that Azango's editor, Wade Williams, called to tell her to go into hiding.<ref name=DB /> The threats included that Azango herself would be "caught and cut".<ref name=AP /> After local police failed to take action against the threats, Azango went into hiding, sending her nine-year-old daughter to stay with relatives.<ref name=DB /><ref name=G />

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based press NGO, called on Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to issue Azango protection and guarantee her safety.<ref name=AP>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-c5e1de8e76fd444b9dd9c73dd29ab56c.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043652/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-c5e1de8e76fd444b9dd9c73dd29ab56c.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 September 2015 |title=Liberia reporter gets death, mutilation threats |date=14 March 2012 |publisher=Associated Press|via=HighBeam Research|access-date=23 September 2012}}</ref> Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders also issued statements of support,<ref name=G>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/apr/30/journalist-safety-liberia |title=Journalist who revealed genital mutilation in Liberia forced into hiding |author=Roy Greenslade |date=30 April 2012 |work=The Guardian |archivedate=20 June 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620192541/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/apr/30/journalist-safety-liberia |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> as did the Columbia Journalism School<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spj.jrn.columbia.edu/2012/03/15/letter-to-the-liberian-government/ |title=Letter to the Liberian Government |author=Jake Heller and Mohamed Ademo |date=15 March 2012 |publisher=Columbia Journalism School |archivedate=20 December 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220212819/http://spj.jrn.columbia.edu/2012/03/15/letter-to-the-liberian-government/ |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the International Federation of Journalists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201203161470.html |title=Liberia: IFJ Calls On Govt to Protect Threatened Female Journalist |date=16 March 2012 |publisher=allafrica.com |archivedate=30 June 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630195638/http://allafrica.com/stories/201203161470.html |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Radio journalist Tetee Gebro of the Liberian station Sky FM broadcast a version of Azango's story in a show of solidarity.<ref name=DB/>

Before the end of the month, in part due to domestic and international pressure sparked by the incident, Sirleaf's government announced that it had agreed with traditional leaders that the practice of FGM would be officially suspended.<ref name=CPJ /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theworld.org/2012/03/female-genital-circumcision-temporarily-stopped-in-liberia/ |title=Female Circumcision Temporarily Stopped in Liberia |author=Bonnie Allen |date=March 29, 2012 |work=The World |archivedate=7 July 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707192050/http://www.theworld.org/2012/03/female-genital-circumcision-temporarily-stopped-in-liberia/ |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The statement was the first time Liberian politicians had publicly criticized the practice of FGM.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newnarratives.org/news/nns-proudest-moment-reporting-prompts-leaders-to-end-female-genital-cutting/ |title=NN's Proudest Moment: Reporting Prompts Leaders To Herald End Of Female Genital Cutting |date=1 April 2012 |publisher=New Narratives |archivedate=20 June 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620173747/http://www.newnarratives.org/news/nns-proudest-moment-reporting-prompts-leaders-to-end-female-genital-cutting/ |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Awards == In 2011, Azango won a grant from the US-based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for her work on "under-reported stories" in "human interest and developmental journalism".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pulitzercenter.org/people/mae-azango |title=Mae Azango |publisher=Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting |archivedate=27 November 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127023607/http://pulitzercenter.org/people/mae-azango |access-date=23 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following the FGM controversy, Azango was announced as a winner of the 2012 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards. The award recognizes journalists who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment.<ref name="2012 awards">{{cite web|url=http://cpj.org/awards/2012/ |title=CPJ International Press Freedom Awards 2011 |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922035005/http://www.cpj.org/awards/2012/ |archivedate=September 22, 2012 |access-date=September 22, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Also in 2012, Azango won one of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression's International Press Freedom Award. The awards are presented annually to journalists who have demonstrated their commitment to human rights and honest reporting, and who have overcome tremendous obstacles in their work. The award is presented at the CJFE Gala: A Night to Honour Courageous Reporting, held in Toronto, Canada.

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azango, Mae}} Category:21st-century Liberian women writers Category:21st-century Liberian writers Category:Activists against female genital mutilation Category:Liberian health activists Category:Liberian journalists Category:Liberian refugees Category:Liberian women activists Category:Liberian women journalists Category:Liberian women writers Category:Liberian women's rights activists Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Violence against women in Liberia Category:Year of birth missing (living people)