Pakistani journalist named inaugural Derek Ingram Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University

Pakistani journalist and documentary filmmaker Saad Zuberi has been honoured as the first Derek Ingram Press Fellow to join the esteemed Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme at Cambridge University for 2024. He stands as the sole recipient of this esteemed award among candidates from 56 Commonwealth countries.

Established in 1982, the prestigious Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme has hosted over 350 journalists from 47 countries, aiming to provide an opportunity for established journalists to take a step away from the pressures of daily work and delve deeper into their research projects. However, this year marks a significant milestone as Zuberi has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Derek Ingram Press Fellowship. The highly competitive fellowship, offered in conjuncture with the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA), is dedicated to honouring renowned journalists and CJA’s President Emeritus Derek Ingram OBE’s legacy of advancing media coverage and public understanding of the issues of the Commonwealth.

Zuberi, who was awarded a UK Alumni award for professional excellence by the British Council earlier this month, is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker specialising in human interest storytelling. His work has appeared on prominent media networks globally.

Saad’s portfolio is distinguished by its dedicated focus on socio-political issues and impactful public interest journalism. Films he has produced have garnered critical acclaim and prestigious nominations for an Emmy award, the international Documentary Association (IDA) award, and the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) award. He is currently based in Pakistan where he continues to produce and direct documentary films, and report on culture, current affairs and human rights for international media.

Zuberi’s proposed research project, titled ‘Reframing the pre-framed’, aims to critically examine the framing, representation, and stereotyping of the Global South within longform journalism, particularly focusing on widely consumed television documentaries produced by mainstream Western media.

Through the fellowship, Zuberi intends to leverage Cambridge University’s intellectual resources to delve into the theoretical frameworks of the field to explore pervasive production practices and ethical, moral and practical dilemmas faced by journalists and filmmakers working for Western media to produce documentary journalism that spotlights people, issues and conflicts of the Global South.