Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam and three others have won the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)-2020 International Press Freedom Award.
“Whether covering the pandemic or protests, journalists everywhere are under attack,” actor Meryl Streep said during the virtual event, which was hosted by NBC’s Lester Holt.
“The very truth they seek to bring us is under attack,” Streep said at the award announcing ceremony virtually on Friday morning.
“The media is under threat worldwide, vigorously being attacked. I think it is important for the world to recognise the role of the media, the value it has, and the fact for those of us on the ground to recognise that we are not alone and that we’re supported,” Alam said in his speech.
Mohammad Mosaed from Iran also won the award.
Mosaed was recently sentenced to more than four years in prison and banned from practicing journalism because of his critical reporting.
Veteran Nigerian journalist and publisher of the newspaper Premium Times Dapo Olorunyomi also won the award.
Olorunyomi said of the award, “It reminds me in particular, and I believe many of my colleagues, of the very important work that remains undone in the development of our media and the struggle to expand and give true consequence to our democracy.”
Svetlana Prokopyeva, awardee and a Russian correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who this year was convicted of “justifying terrorism.”
Prokopyeva noted in her speech that in Russia, “Journalism is often equaled to crime. We are sliding into totalitarianism – again. Because if there is no freedom of speech, other freedoms are out of reach.”
Streep presented lawyer Amal Clooney with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. During the evening, the editor of Rappler and the 2018 Gwen Ifill Awardee, Maria Ressa, interviewed Clooney.
“You can’t defend democracy if you don’t have a thriving and independent media,” Clooney said during the interview.
In her acceptance speech, Clooney noted that “Americans voted in a new leader who can reclaim moral leadership on the world stage. They rejected the candidate who called the press ‘enemies of the people’ and shrugged off the murder of a Washington Post columnist.”
Separately this week, CPJ published a proposal to the incoming Biden administration on restoring US leadership in global press freedom.
The programme included a star-studded call to action by investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, political satire host Samantha Bee, CNBC’s Shepard Smith, and actor Rosamund Pike, among other noted journalists and advocates, according to the CPJ statement.
The awards were chaired by Patrick Gaspard, President of the Open Society Foundations. Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, announced that Knight would match each donation up to $250,000.
“We are grateful for our dinner chair Patrick Gaspard and all those who have generously contributed to CPJ and made this evening such a success. It is inspiring to see people in the US and around the world rally to support press freedom,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
