By Evan Buxbaum
Class of 2012
(Photo by John Smock)

Agnes Taile left her native Cameroon after assailants apparently unhappy with her reporting beat her and left her for dead. This year, Taile (pronounced Tally) will be at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism as its fifth International Journalist in Residence.

“I was really surprised,” Taile, 31, said of being chosen to spend the next two semesters at CUNY. As part of the program, she will have full access to courses, equipment, and faculty support. Taile will also participate in discussion with the faculty, students, and community about her work.

Taile has received awards and accolades for her work covering government corruption, human rights abuses, and injustice in her home country. Her bold reporting and tenacity have also made her a target on more than one occasion.

Taile had been a broadcast journalist in Cameroon since 2002. In 2005, she became the host of a news and opinion radio program called “A vous la parole” (Have Your Say). The show was often critical of government corruption and Cameroon’s long-standing president, but promoted no political agenda. “I don’t have anything against anybody,” Taile said of her nation’s politicians. “I just want them to do their jobs.”

But according to Taile, she started receiving anonymous threatening phone calls beginning in the fall of 2006. She refused to give in to the intimidation and denounced her harassers on the air.

Then came Nov. 6, 2006 — a date marking the 24th anniversary of Cameroonian President Paul Biya. That evening, three masked men broke into Taile’s home and abducted her at knifepoint. Taile said the men beat her, dragged her from her house, and attempted to strangle the life out of her. After being left for dead in a ravine, Taile managed to crawl home, but she sustained severe damage to her vocal chords in the attack. Her show was canceled. The assailants were never found.

Taile recovered and went back to work as a national radio and television correspondent. She quickly reestablished herself as a courageous journalist with a keen eye for identifying government corruption. “They don’t like it,” she said, “but to be honest, I don’t care.”

Taile spent 24-hours in prison after broadcasting voting irregularities following the 2004 presidential election. In 2008, she gained international recognition for her reporting during the conflict in Chad. As the first journalist from Cameroon to cover the violence that erupted in Ndjamena, Chad’s capital, Taile exposed the Cameroonian government’s involvement in weapons trafficking.

Her work garnered widespread attention, and in 2009 she received the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award. Only days after accepting the honor, Taile was again subjected to a series of menacing phone calls. The intimidation intensified in December 2009 when Taile was confronted by local police officers who taunted her by calling her “Lady Courage.”

Fearing escalating threats, Taile fled to the United States where she was granted asylum.  She married here and settled in New York.  Her 10-year-old son had no passport when she left and, not knowing where she was going, she decided to leave him in Cameroon.  She is attempting to obtain a visa for him to join her here.

Taile said she was excited about being at the CUNY J-School and working on stories again. “I’m someone who likes to learn every day and practice what I learn,” Taile said. “It is really exciting,” she said before laughing. “How can I sleep?”

The International Journalist in Residence program is an initiative between the CUNY J-School and The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It is designed to establish links between the American journalism community and international journalists forced to leave their countries. Taile’s presence at the School will give students a personal perspective on the plight of journalists for whom freedom of the press is a matter of daily struggle.

Taile said she’s equally interested in developing her investigative reporting skills and exploring entrepreneurial opportunities during her year with CUNY. In 2011, Taile launched the Cameroonian news website, Le Septentrion Info, and hopes to develop the site while at CUNY.

But Taile’s mission goes beyond personal growth. She wants to return to Cameroon and help the country move forward. “There is a need for professional journalists,” she said. “The more we get tools and techniques, the better we can do it. Things can change.”