The International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) has honoured four journalists from Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and Sudan for their achievements in the face of political and economic threats at the annual Excellence in International Journalism Awards Dinner on November 9.
This year's Knight International Press Fellowship Awards were given to Marcelo Beraba of Brazil, Bambang Harymurti of Indonesia and Mahjoub Mohamed Salih of Sudan. The award honors individuals who have done outstanding journalism and have raised the standards of media excellence in their countries, a ICFJ press release said.
The first Paul Klebnikov Prize for Courage in Journalism was awarded to Diana Kachalova of Russia. The Paul Klebnikov Fund recognises a senior Russian journalist whose work in the preceding year best exemplifies Klebnikov's vision of journalism as a force for civic betterment in Russia.
Marcelo Beraba is Brazil's leading ombudsman, writing a trenchant and fearless weekly column in his own newspaper, Folha de S Paulo, the country's most influential daily. He is also founder and president of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, ABRAJI, the first organisation of its kind in South America's largest country.
In both these highly visible positions, Beraba works to establish a new level of independent Brazilian journalism, demanding better performance and higher ethical standards from reporters and editors. He also uses his roles to hold those in power up to greater public scrutiny.
Beraba was spurred to establish ABRAJI after the murder by drug traffickers of his colleague, reporter Tim Lopes. "This was a case that shocked us greatly, and we felt that there wasn't any understanding or respect for the work that we did in Brazil," Beraba wrote. To change that, ABRAJI has strived to raise standards by offering colleagues training on narco-trafficking and corruption coverage, access to information, journalist protection, freedom-of-expression laws, and the relationship between the press and the judiciary, among other topics.
Bambang Harymurti is the editor-in-chief of Tempo, the weekly newsmagazine and the daily newspaper of the same name. His long, distinguished career in Indonesian journalism includes a variety of domestic and international postings with Tempo, which he has seen through numerous closures and re-openings. He has also been executive editor of Media Indonesia, another daily.
Harymurti has garnered fame through his struggle to fight libel charges filed by a business tycoon. He was also accused of fomenting riots by disseminating lies. The "riot," however, involved an attack on Tempo's office by thugs threatening to burn down the building, harassing staff and injuring one reporter. Later that same day, at the central Jakarta police station, Harymurti was punched and kicked by mob leaders as law enforcers looked away. A series of judicial irregularities ultimately resulted in 2004 in Harymurti's being found guilty and sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The verdict is being appealed.
Mahjoub Mohamed Salih has been working as a journalist in one of the world's most repressive media environments for more than half a century. His career has been marked by harassment, imprisonment and the nationalization and repeated closure of his newspaper, Al-Ayam, which he established in 1958. Salih's position as a leader in the promotion of press freedom in Sudan was renewed in 2003, when Al-Ayam became the first newspaper to report on the situation in Darfur.
The coverage, related editorial warnings to the government to deal with the situation, and other reports on rebel activities and topics critical of the government prompted his incarceration and the three-month closure of his paper. But Salih's work made diplomatic missions and international organisations aware of the tragedy in Darfur.
Despite the hardships, Salih has maintained his faith in free and independent Sudanese media, and Al-Ayam remains a training ground for journalists who share Salih's passion. He is a mentor to young journalists writing in English and Arabic, and also furthers his ideals through his work in national and regional organisations.
Diana Kachalova is the trailblazing editor-in-chief of Moy Rayon, a rare publication in today's Russia. The paper is a grassroots, independent and privately owned weekly that survives exclusively on advertising revenue. It has 11 community editions for the city of St Petersburg. Kachalova graduated from the department of journalism at St Petersburg State University and shortly thereafter began working at Nevskoye Vremya as a political reporter, editor and foreign correspondent based in the United States. Kachalova also covered conflicts in Chechnya, Southern Ossetia, and Abkhazia for Nevskoye Vremya. She has been a contributor to National Public Radio, CNN and BBC Television and Radio on Russian politics, among other topics.
At Moy Rayon, Kachalova defines the editorial policy and long- and short-term editorial goals, and collaborates with the executive management to set objectives for the newspapers' editions. Kachalova aims for Moy Rayon to provide balanced, fact-based local news for the citizens of St Petersburg and its communities and neighbourhoods; the paper should be a beacon for them to make informed decisions about important social and political issues.
