Eleventh Annual Awards Ceremony in New York City on November 20
SEE PHOTO GALLERY OF BENEFIT DINNER
 Clockwise from top left: Verbitsky, Nyarota, Jiang, Dana. |
October 17, 2001 - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
will present its 2001 International Press Freedom Awards to four journalists
from China, Zimbabwe, Argentina, and the West Bank who have defied death
threats, braved bullets, and endured jail to report the news.
The 11th Annual Press Freedom Awards will be presented at a dinner ceremony
at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Tuesday, November 20.
The 2001 CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipients are:
Jiang Weiping,
a veteran journalist currently imprisoned in China on charges of "revealing
state secrets" for his aggressive reports on official corruption;
Geoff Nyarota, the editor of Zimbabwe's only independent daily
newspaper, which has been a relentless critic of President Robert Mugabe.
Nyarota has been threatened and jailed, and his paper has been bombed
twice;
Horacio Verbitsky, who
has blazed a trail for Argentina's press by exposing government corruption,
reporting fearlessly on past atrocities, and battling for the repeal of
the country's restrictive press laws;
Mazen Dana, a cameraman
for Reuters in the West Bank city of Hebron who has been beaten repeatedly
and shot on several occasions while covering clashes between Palestinians
and Jewish settlers.
CPJ will also honor Joseph Lelyveld,
former executive editor of The New York Times, with the Burton
Benjamin Memorial Award for a lifetime of distinguished professional achievement
and devotion to the cause of press freedom.
Gene Roberts, chairman of CPJ's board of directors, said, "We pay
tribute to these four brave journalists who have risked their lives to
challenge tyranny, oppose censorship, and search for the truth."
Robert W. Pittman, co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner,
will chair the dinner, which will be hosted by NBC News anchor Tom
Brokaw. Joining Brokaw as speakers at the awards ceremony are: Dan
Rather, CBS News anchor, Carol Guzy of The Washington Post,
Alberto Ibargüen of The Miami Herald, Dean Baquet
of The Los Angeles Times, and Andrea Koppel of CNN.
Ann Cooper, CPJ executive director, said of the awardees, "Each
of these journalists, with pictures or words, has revealed stories that
others wanted to hide. Each has been attacked for doing his job too well."
Read more about the awardees: