Susana Mendes

Susana Mendes (born 1987) is an Angolan journalist. At the age of 23, she was appointed editor of the Angolense, making her Angola's first female editor of a major weekly newspaper.[1] In 2020 she joined Vida TV as editorial coordinator of their information department.[2]

Rafael Marques has praised her contributions to Angolan journalism:

Susana is a very courageous journalist and one of the few women who has embraced the fight for the freedom of press in the country, and that is quite remarkable.[3]

Life

Susana Mendes was born in Benguela in western Angola. She attended high school in Luanda, and while there started training at the state-owned Rádio Nacional Angola. At the age of 17, she began working as a reporter at the Luanda-based business newspaper Agora. The job enabled her to pay for her education at Universidade Independente de Angola. Mendes then worked at A Capital, a private anti-corruption weekly.[3]

In 2005 Americo Gonçalves, founder of Angolense as well as A Capital, recruited her to be editor of Angolense.[3]

In 2008 Mendes joined other feminists to create the Forum of Women Journalists for Gender Equality (FMJIG). Members created a series of radio programs in 2009 to promote a draft bill crimininalizing domestic violence.[3] The bill was introduced in 2010, though the legislation lacks penalties and the assembly has not acted on it.[1]

In 2009-10 Mendes was vice president of the Johannesburg-based Africa Investigative Reporters Forum.[2]

References
  1. W. Martin James (2011). "Mendes, Susana (1987–)". Historical Dictionary of Angola. Scarecrow Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-8108-7458-9.
  2. "Suzana Mendes reforça equipa da Vida TV". AngoNoticias. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. Nosarieme Garrick (25 May 2010). "Angola's Mendes Urges Making Wife-Beating a Crime". Women's E-News. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
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