AUSTRALIA
NAME: Lee McDougall
NATIONALITY: Australian
AGE: 38
TITLE: Editor
NEWSPAPER: Coffs Coast Advocate
FREQUENCY: Six days a week - 5,000 paid, 31,500 free

Shortly after graduating from university in 1989 with a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication, Lee began working as a reporter/editor at the Woolgoolga Advertiser.

In 1992, she moved to the Coffs Coast Advocate and worked as a reporter before becoming the editor in 2004. As editor, Lee successfully supervised the launch of the Advocate's first-ever Monday edition.

She currently manages 21 newsroom staff, oversees the newspaper's editorial direction and focus, and deals with all aspects of the day-to-day business operations of the Advocate.

AUSTRALIA
NAME: John Rolfe
NATIONALITY: Australian
AGE: 28
TITLE: Chief of Staff
NEWSPAPER: The Daily Telegraph
FREQUENCY: Daily - 415,000

After graduating with a journalism degree in 1997, John worked as a political reporter at Bloomberg News for two years. He joined the Daily Telegraph as a business reporter in 1999, becoming the paper's personal finance editor in 2000.

He continued his rise up the Telegraph ladder in 2001 when he was appointed Business Editor. He stayed in the position for only a year before receiving another promotion, this time to Chief of Staff.

His responsibilities include determining which stories the paper covers, briefing other senior staff on story development, page assignment and handling the detail of breaking news.

INDIA
NAME: Rachna Rawat
NATIONALITY: Indian
AGE: 35
TITLE: Senior Sub-Editor
NEWSPAPER: Deccan Herald
FREQUENCY: Daily - 160,000

After a slowly working her way up writing for a youth magazine and then tabloid newspaper, Rachna's journalism career finally took off in 1992 when she was hired as a sub-editor at The Statesman, a highly respected paper in India.

Starting in 1994, she spent two years as a staff writer at the Financial Express before moving to the Indian Express, where she was a senior reporter.

She left the Express, and journalism, in 1999 but returned to work in 2004 as a sub-editor at the Deccan Herald. Her responsibilities now involve editing a four page weekly magazine that deals with lifestyles, trends, health and women's issues. She generates story ideas, works on page design and layout and still writes for the Herald.

KENYA
NAME: Otsieno Namwaya
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
AGE: 33
TITLE: Senior Investigative writer/ Sub-editor
NEWSPAPER: The Standard
FREQUENCY: Daily - nationwide

Having initially graduated in 1997 with a science degree from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Namwaya then obtained a postgraduate journalism diploma from the University of Kenya in 1999.

He started his journalism career as a special correspondent for the EastAfrican - a newspaper which circulates regionally in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In 2000, he moved to The Media Institute as assistant editor on their monthly human rights journal Expression Today.

In 2001, he joined the Standard as sub-editor on the Big Issue and was promoted to his current role as senior investigative writer/sub-editor in 2003. In this capacity, he is responsible for identifying and investigating topical issues and generating stories around them.

NEW ZEALAND
NAME: Julie Middleton
NATIONALITY: New Zealand
AGE: 35
TITLE: Senior Writer
NEWSPAPER: The New Zealand Herald
FREQUENCY: Six days a week - 208,000

Julie trained in journalism in Auckland in the late 1980s at Auckland Technical Institute (now the Auckland University of Technology). Her first job was at the Sunday Star as a news and feature writer. From 1990 to 1993, she worked in Leicester, England, as a trainee sub-editor at the daily Leicester Mercury and then at the National Youth Agency's monthly magazine Young People Now as features writer and assistant editor.

After returning to New Zealand, she returned to tertiary education - this time, a BA at the University of Auckland - during which she freelanced for various national publications. In 1997, she became editor of the East and Bays Courier before joining the Herald family in 1999 as editor-in-chief of its community papers division. In 2001, Julie became the first careers editor at the Herald. Since 2003, she has been a senior writer with the paper.

NIGERIA
NAME: Funsho Aina
NATIONALITY: Nigerian
AGE: 35
TITLE: Chief Correspondent
NEWSPAPER: Punch Newspapers
FREQUENCY: Daily - 150,000

Funsho's first journalism job was in 1996, as a reporter for Tempo magazine. In 1997, he became senior reporter at the same publication, before becoming the magazine's senior copy editor in 1999.

In 2000 he moved to Punch Newspapers and became a correspondent there. He was promoted to the senior correspondent position in 2002, a job he held for one year. In 2003, he became the organisation's Chief Correspondent.

He now covers the state house, the presidency and all arms of the executive government. He also writes a weekly column on the political state of affairs in Nigeria.

PAKISTAN
NAME: Farhat Anis
NATIONALITY: Pakistani
AGE: 35
TITLE: Weekly Page Editor
NEWSPAPER: The News International
FREQUENCY: Daily - 140,000

Farhar first worked as a sub-editor at the Business Recorder for nine months in 1989 as part of an internship assignment for her Masters degree, which she obtained from the University of Karachi in 1990.

She then worked at Pakistan's leading daily national newspaper, The News International, as a sub-editor until 1992. Subsequently, she became the senior sub-editor and editorial coordinator of the News on Sunday, the newspaper's weekend magazine.

Farhat is currently the editor of the weekly page for News International and oversees the health, environment, showbiz, and city/corporate pages. She still reports on social and cultural issues and writes a weekly "City Diary" column.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
NAME: Alexander Rheeney
NATIONALITY: Papua New Guinean
AGE: 30
TITLE: Acting Chief of Staff
NEWSPAPER: PNG Post-Courier
FREQUENCY: Five days a week - 32,000 per day

Alexander began his career as a cadet reporter with The National newspaper in Port Moresby in 1994. Shortly before finishing his studies at the University of Papua New Guinea in 2000, he moved gradually back into journalism with a position as Press Officer with the Papua New Guinea Office of Rural Development.

In 2001, Alexander was hired as a reporter with the PNG Post Courier, a position he held until 2003 when he became senior reporter for the same publication. Between 2003 and 2005, he has been appointed Acting Chief of Staff of the Post Courier three times, most recently in February 2005.

His responsibilities include coordinating the paper's news gathering efforts in PNG through four regional bureaus and delegating assignments to the five staff members in Port Moresby. He is also the paper's Chief Investigative reporter and covers politics, sport, courts, security issues and the environment.

SOUTH AFRICA
NAME: Mapula Sibanda
NATIONALITY: South African
AGE: 33
TITLE: Lifestyle Editor
NEWSPAPER: City Press Newspaper
FREQUENCY: Sundays - 160,000 per week

Mapula began her career as a journalist with South Africa's Weekly Mail and Guardian as a trainee journalist in 1994. After taking a 10-week course in Australia on radio broadcasting, she returned to print journalism in 1996 and helped launch a new publication, Ebony South Africa magazine.

Within the year, she had made the move to the City Press, working as a columnist and reporter covering areas as diverse as crime and parliament for the paper. Mapula received an internal promotion in 1998 and became the newspaper's Lifestyle Editor, a position she still holds today.

During this time, she has also served as Women's Editor and News Editor for the City Press. Her current responsibilities include writing and editing lifestyle features, commissioning stories, and assisting with page layout.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
NAME: Curtis Rampersad
NATIONALITY: Trinidadian
AGE: 33
TITLE: Senior Reporter/Editor
NEWSPAPER: Trinidad Express Newspapers
FREQUENCY: Daily - 86,000

Curtis began his journalism career in 1996 as business reporter for the Daily News in Trinidad and Tobago. He kept that title, but moved to the Trinidad Express in 1998 before receiving an internal promotion as senior business reporter.

2004 marked a slightly new chapter in his career with another title change, this time to Senior Reporter and Editor. His responsibilities are now more varied and include writing and editing daily business, finance and energy stories, as well as daily news.

He also assists in the layout of international stories, generates feature story ideas and helps train new reporters. His assignments have taken him to the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.