Jennifer Martinez named 2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern

A Stanford graduate student has been chosen as the 2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern.

Jennifer Martinez is working toward a master's degree in communication, specializing in journalism, after earning a bachelor's degree with honors in international relations at Stanford in 2007. She will work in the London bureau of the Wall Street Journal this summer.

The internship was established to commemorate the work and ideals of Daniel Pearl, a Stanford graduate and Journal foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

In an essay written as part of the application process, Martinez described three Hurricane Katrina survivors whom she had written about. "Daniel Pearl understood that readers are better able to grasp the magnitude of international tragedies by weaving narratives of the people who experienced them into his writing," she wrote. "In every facet of his reporting, Pearl strived to tell the stories of those who were overlooked and hidden in the shadows."

Martinez is from San Jose and has held previous journalism internships at the San Jose Mercury News and the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau.

A committee of Communication Department faculty members evaluated applicants for the internship. The final decision was made by the Journal.

A 1985 graduate of Stanford's Department of Communication, Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002, while working on a story retracing the steps of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. A month later, on Feb. 21, his captors released a videotape of his slaying. He was 38.

-30-