Leila Molana-Allen

Leila Molana-Allen
Born
London, England
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA)
Columbia School of Journalism (MS)
OccupationsJournalist, foreign war correspondent
Years active2011–present
Notable credit(s)PBS
BBC News
Al Jazeera
FRANCE 24
Websiteleilamolanaallen.com

Leila Molana-Allen is a British roving foreign war correspondent, journalist, and video and photojournalist, based in Beirut and Baghdad.[1] She is British–Iranian, and covers topics on social instability and recovery in conflict zones, displacement, and women's rights across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa.[2] In 2024, she was nominated for twoEmmy Awards for her coverage on PBS's On the Brink and Sudan's Civil War.[3]

Early Life and education

Leila Molana-Allen was born in London, England, to a British father and Iranian mother.[4][5] She attended St. Paul's School for Girls in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.[4][5]

Molana-Allen received a BA degree in ancient and modern history from the University of Oxford, and an MS degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 2011.[6][7]

Career

Before joining PBS News Hour, Molana-Allen was a foreign correspondent for The Economist, BBC News, and a Middle East correspondent for France 24.[8][9] She has also worked as a freelance journalist reporting for Al Jazeera and The Telegraph, among others.[10][11] Molana-Allen has covered topics including Sudan's civil war, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the October 7 attacks, and women's rights.[12][2][6]

In 2023, Molana-Allen reported from the front lines of the Israel-Gaza war, uncovering the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks and investigating human rights abuses in Jerusalem and the West Bank. She won a Peabody Award for the PBS one-hour special report, War in the Holy Land.[8][13]

In 2024, Molana-Allen crossed into Syria on the front lines reporting from cities and villages to interview people caught in the middle of the violence in the days following the collapse of the Assad regime as well as reporting on Sudan's civil war and humanitarian crisis.[14][15][16] That same year she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for On the Brink (Hezbollah–Israel conflict) for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage and for PBS's Sudan's Civil War for Outstanding Continuing News Coverage - Long Form.[3] She was also a recipient of the CFWIJ Kathy Gannon Legacy Award for reporting in the Middle East for PBS.[17]

In 2025, Molana-Allen won a Shifa Gardi Award for Conflict Journalist of the Year. Rudaw grants the award each year to a prominent female war correspondent.[4] In 2026, she won a duPont-Columbia Award for her coverage in The PBS series, The Fall of Assad.[7]

Awards

Year Nominated work Category Award Result
2026The Fall of AssadduPont-Columbia AwardWon
2025Conflict Journalist of the YearShifa Gardi AwardWon
2024Sudan's Civil WarOutstanding Continuing News Coverage - Long FormEmmy AwardNominated
2024On the BrinkOutstanding Breaking News CoverageEmmy AwardNominated
2025Conflict Journalist of the YearShifa Gardi AwardWon
2024PBS Journalist Covering the Middle EastCFWIJ Kathy Gannon Legacy AwardWon
2023War in the Holy LandPeabody AwardWon

References

  1. ↑ "Leila Molana Allen". PBS. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Leila Molana-Allen". The New Humanitarian. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "News & Doc Emmys page 51 and 54" (PDF). Emmys. June 25, 2025. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Rudaw presents 2025 Shifa Gardi Award to British-Iranian journalist Leila Molana-Allen". Rudaw. February 25, 2025. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  5. 1 2 G8 plays the same old song "The Guardian," Page 19, June 4, 2005
  6. 1 2 "Leila Molana-Allen". International Women's Media Foundation. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  7. 1 2 "2026 duPont Winner - The Fall of Assad". duPont. Retrieved May 3, 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Leila Molana-Allen". Pulitzer Center. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Leila Molana Allen Articles". FRANCE 24. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
  10. ↑ "About the Author Leila Molana Allen Articles". Al Jazeera. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Leila Molana Allen Articles". The Telegraph. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
  12. ↑ "No Protection For Women In Lebanon, Pleas For Safety Made Futile by Taleen El Gharib". Outlook - University of Beirut. April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  13. ↑ "War in the Holy Land PBS NewsHour". Peabody Awards. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Panel discussion: Syria After Assad - Frontline Club". US Trip. June 19, 2025. Retrieved May 3, 2026.
  15. ↑ "How Sudan's civil war has ravaged millions of people's lives @ 0:31". KET. Retrieved May 3, 2026.
  16. ↑ ""How and why the humanitarian crisis in Sudan is being forgotten" by Jorgelina Manna-Rea (transcript)". NPR. September 5, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Announcing the 2024 CFWIJ Kathy Gannon Legacy Awards". Women in Journalism. Retrieved May 3, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.