Zahid Gishkori, Pakistan

Zahid Gishkori
The Express Tribune, Islamabad, Pakistan (Home Newsroom)
The Kansas City Star (U.S. Host Newsroom)

Zahid Gishkori, 32, is a staff correspondent with The Express Tribune, publishing partner of the International New York Times in Islamabad, Pakistan. He has more than seven years experience in feature writing, political and investigative reporting, and multimedia storytelling. Gishkori has covered  courts, counterterrorism, diplomatic issues, the environment, gender discrimination and human rights. He has reported from India, Germany, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Currently Gishkori covers special events and files investigative and in-depth reports on news issues. He also focuses on the Balochistan conflict. His awards include the 2013 Agahi Award for quality journalism for coverage of floods and a 2012 Canadian High Commissioner award for his reporting on an Airblue plane crash investigation.

Gishkori received a master’s degree in English Literature and one in political science from Pakistan’s Bahauddin Zakariya University. He also earned a master’s in mass communication from Allama Iqbal Open University. He has reported for many Pakistan news outlets including: Express 24/7, The Nation, the Pakistan Observer, Pakistan Press International and Independent News Pakistan.

In 2012, Gishkori attended the course “Freedom and Responsibility in the Media” at the Summer Academy of the International  Institute of Journalism in Hamburg, Germany. Later that year, he was a SAARC Media Fellow in Kathmandu, Nepal and wrote From Shadows to Reality: A Way Forward for SAARC, a study on relationships among the states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Also in Nepal last year, Gishkori participated in South Asia’s Youth at Risk, a program organized by the International Center for Journalists.

About the fellowship, Gishkori said, “I’m excited about this unique opportunity which will allow me to work with some of the world’s leading journalists while developing my in-depth investigative reporting skills.”

During his fellowship, Gishkori will be working in the news department of The Kansas City Star.