She was covering last winter’s Tunisian Uprising well before other English-speaking journalists realized the significance of the protest movement that would soon spread throughout much of the rest of the Arab world. She was also the first journalist to examine the battles for freedom of expression between cyber dissidents and the authorities that have since received so much attention, in an article titled “Tunisia’s bitter cyberwar.” Ryan will be covering what Tunisians hope to be their first free and fair election in October. Before joining Al Jazeera, Ryan worked for the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times. http://english.aljazeera.net