Three journalists and a media lawyer – from Brazil, China, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe – who have endured beatings, threats, intimidation, and jail because of their work have been presented the 2005 International Press Freedom Awards by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The awards were presented at CPJ's 15th annual awards dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Tuesday, November 22.
Galima Bukharbaeva, former Uzbekistan correspondent for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting; Beatrice Mtetwa, a media lawyer and a tireless defender of press freedom in Zimbabwe; Lúcio Flávio Pinto, publisher and editor of the bimonthly paper Jornal Pessoal; and Shi Tao, a Chinese freelance journalist for Internet publications and an editor for Dangdai Shang Bao, a Chinese business newspaper, were honoured with the International Press Freedom Awards.
"These individuals inspire us all," said Paul Steiger, CPJ board chairman and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. "In the face of grave dangers, they have shown extraordinary bravery, tenacity, and dedication in defending the free flow of vital information."
CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said: "All of the awardees have risked their lives and their freedom to report the truth about politicians, policies, businesses, and crime. For their work, these journalists have been attacked in various ways by powerful people determined to hide their actions."
Galima Bukharbaeva has drawn international attention to the Uzbek government's authoritarian policies, earning a reputation as one of Central Asia's most outspoken journalists. Her work for the London-based Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) focused on sensitive issues such as police torture, repression of Islamic activists, and state-sponsored abuses against journalists and human rights activists. As a result, Bukharbaeva was placed under police surveillance, denied press accreditation, and threatened with prosecution. The government organised Soviet-style "protests" in the capital, Tashkent, denouncing her as a traitor.
Bukharbaeva was one of the few journalists to witness and report on the May 13 massacre in the northeastern Uzbek city of Andijan. A bullet tore through her backpack, piercing her notebook and press pass, when troops opened fire on demonstrators. As a result of her reporting, the state media accused her of "conducting open information warfare against the state." Facing government reprisals, she fled the country and lives in New York City, where she is studying at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Beatrice Mtetwa, a prominent media lawyer, has defended many journalists in Zimbabwe who have been detained and harassed. In a country where the law is used as a weapon against independent journalists, Mtetwa has defended journalists and argued for press freedom, all at great personal risk. This year, Mtetwa won acquittals for Toby Harnden and Julian Simmonds, journalists with The Sunday Telegraph of London, who were arrested outside a polling station in Zimbabwe during the April parliamentary election. The government of President Robert Mugabe, which severely restricted independent coverage of the vote, had charged them with working without accreditation.
Mtetwa has worked on behalf of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's sole independent daily newspaper until it was closed by the government in 2003. She continues to defend the newspaper's journalists, many of whom face criminal charges for their work. In October 2003, Mtetwa was arrested on specious allegations of drunken driving. She was taken to a police station, where she was held for three hours, beaten and choked, then released without charge. Although she was unable to speak for two days as a result of the assault, she returned to the police station on the third day, with medical evidence in hand, to file charges.
Shi Tao is serving a 10-year sentence in China on charges of "leaking state secrets abroad." Shi worked as an editor for Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Trade News), a newspaper in the city of Changsha, in Hunan Province. He also wrote essays calling for political reform that were posted on overseas news websites that are banned in China.
He was arrested in November 2004 for posting notes from a directive issued by China's Propaganda Department that instructed the media how to cover the 15th anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square. Shi's appeal was rejected in June. His mother has filed for a review of the appeal, charging "serious procedural defects."
Shi's imprisonment highlights the Chinese government's intense efforts to control the Internet, the only alternative to China's officially sanctioned print and broadcast media. The government monitors Internet content, blocks websites, requires bloggers to register their identities, and solicits the help of companies doing business in China. In this case, the US Internet giant Yahoo helped authorities identify Shi through his email account.
Lúcio Flávio Pinto reports from the lawless and isolated Amazon region of Brazil, one of the most dangerous beats in Latin America. As publisher and editor of Jornal Pessoal in the northern state of Pará, he covers an area that is almost twice the size of Texas and is home to corrupt ranchers and land speculators.
He has reported on drug trafficking, environmental devastation, and political and corporate corruption. In return, he has been threatened and subjected to a wave of spurious lawsuits. A powerful local media owner, also a local politician, attacked Pinto in a restaurant in January, beating and kicking him. The assailant's bodyguards provided cover during the assault.
Writing columns and directing coverage in his small bimonthly paper, Pinto has challenged the self-dealing and domination of a prominent media company. In retaliation, the company's principals have unleashed a barrage of legal complaints. Judges, politicians, and business owners have also filed criminal and civil complaints against Pinto, who has exposed illegal corporate appropriation of timber-rich land, as well as corruption involving land titles.
CPJ also honoured the late ABC News anchor Peter Jennings with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for a lifetime of distinguished achievement. Jennings learned of the award just weeks before his death in August. Jennings' career was intertwined with the major events of the past four decades. He reported on the building of the Berlin wall in the 1960s and its demolition in 1989.
He established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world in 1968 and drew on his knowledge of the region to inform his reporting in both Iraq wars. He reported on the civil rights movement in the US South during the 1960s and the struggle for equality in South Africa in the 1970s.
Jennings was one of the first reporters to go to Vietnam in the 1960s, and he reported from Bosnia in the 1990s. He was on the scene when the independent political movement Solidarity was born in a Polish shipyard, and he was in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, and the Soviet Union to record the fall of communism.
In the week following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Jennings anchored more than 60 hours of news coverage, providing a reliable and reassuring voice during a time of crisis. He also earned a reputation for raising complex issues. His special series, "Peter Jennings Reporting," focused on vital international affairs such as the tense relations between India and Pakistan, the crisis in Haiti, and the drug trade in Central and South America. He also tackled important domestic issues such as abortion, gun control, and health care.
Jennings was named anchor and senior editor of "World News Tonight" in 1983. In more than 20 years in that position, he was honored with almost every major award given to television journalists.
The Burton Benjamin Memorial Award is given for a lifetime of distinguished achievement in the cause of press freedom. It is named in honor of the late CBS News senior producer and former CPJ chairman who died in 1988.
