Brian Banda USA-bound

Capital FM’s celebrated journalist Brian Banda will travel to the United States on Friday April 29 where he will participate in a Foreign Press Center (FPC) six-day reporting tour commemorating the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), in Washington, DC, and New York City.



The WPFD tour is going to be a unique opportunity for Brian to meet with journalists from around the world and to interview high-level officials from the United States Department of State, United Nations, and NGOs working on press freedom.



Brian, a nationally acclaimed radio interviewer and host of the famous Straight Talk program, will also witness the award of the annual UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to imprisoned Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi on May 3. Zeidabadi was selected by an independent international jury of 12 media professionals.



The tour will take place from May 1-6, 2011. Up to 40 journalists were selected from across the world to participate in the program. The tour is consistent with the U.S. Government's continuing commitment to world press freedom, as outlined by the 1991 Declaration of Windhoek: "The establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development."