Cuban Blogger, Journalist Now Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown

September 9, 2014 – An internationally recognized Cuban blogger known for her promotion of online freedom of expression is Georgetown’s new Yahoo! Fellow in International Values, Communications, Technology and the Global Internet.

Yoani Sanchez, an award-winning journalist and author, will focus on digital journalism and her recently launched online daily during the 2014-2015 academic year, the School of Foreign Service and its Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) announced today.

“The Yahoo! Fellowship at Georgetown is an opportunity for me to improve the quality of my own work, to empower independent journalism in Cuba,” Sanchez says, “and to interact with students and faculty in order to broaden my perspective on the world and on Cuba itself.”

Sanchez’s blog, Generation Y, is translated into nearly two-dozen languages and receives more than 14 million visits per month. This past spring, Sanchez launched Cuba’s first digital daily newspaper, 14ymedio. 

A graduate of the University of Havana, where she studied language and literature, Sanchez says that challenging herself and “constantly learning are central goals in my personal life and in my journey as an eternal student.”

As the Yahoo! Fellow, Sanchez will share her experience of launching an online newspaper in a closed society and issues covered on 14ymedio with the Georgetown community to inform an exploration of online information and values.

“We are delighted to have Yoani Sanchez join us as the 2014-2015 Yahoo! Fellow,” says Barbara Bodine, ISD director. “We admire her courageous work in the field of online communication and independent journalism and look forward to our students, faculty and the wider Georgetown community engaging with her in an open dialogue about free expression online and daily life in Cuba.”