Minister Lenihan launches Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund

Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Conor Lenihan T.D., today launched the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund 2005.

In launching the Fund, Minister Lenihan said;

“I certainly think it is a fitting tribute to Simon to rename the Fund in his memory and I am very grateful to his family.”

“We must always remember those journalists who have been killed or injured in the course of their work, but most all we must always remember that they put themselves in harms way to help give us a better sense of the world in which we all live.”

“The Fund is designed precisely to help journalists and media organisations to cover international stories about the challenges facing human development, to make sense of those challenges in all their complexity, and in the process help make sense of them for Irish people.”

Simon Cumbers died aged 36 after being shot by gunmen in the Saudi capital, Riyadh on 6th June 2004. He was working with BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner in a suburb of Riyadh, when they were fired on by terrorists.  Simon Cumbers died at the scene and Frank Gardener was critically wounded.

A little over a year after Simon's tragic death, Minister of State Lenihan, in close consultation with Simon's wife and family, decided to rename the Media Challenge Fund in his memory.

The purpose of this Fund is to financially assist journalists, media organisations and development practitioners in producing feature pieces around themes relating to international development. 

ENDS+++
26th October 2005

More Information and background on the Fund can be found at: http://www.dci.gov.ie/grants_media.asp