CPJ’s 2016 International Press Freedom Awards
New York, November 15, 2016–Four remarkable journalists who have navigated chilling media landscapes in Egypt, El Salvador, India, and Turkey will be honored at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2016 International Press Freedom Awards, an annual ceremony that recognizes courageous journalism.
The awardees have faced great risk to cover the news, including being threatened by criminal gangs and politicians, and being forced to flee after harassment from police and activists. One awardee was shot at twice outside a courtroom in Turkey, where he stood trial on charges related to his work; another has spent more than three years behind bars for documenting the momentum of a revolution in Egypt.
CPJ will also present Christiane Amanpour, the award-winning chief international correspondent and anchor at CNN, with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for her extraordinary work in service of press freedom. Amanpour has frequently hosted persecuted journalists on her CNN show and seizes every opportunity to hold perpetrators of press freedom abuses to account.
The awards dinner is open for press coverage. Accreditation requests are accepted until noon on Monday, November 21.
WHAT: 26th annual International Press Freedom Awards dinner
WHERE: Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Avenue, New York
WHEN: Tuesday, November 22, 2016
6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Photographs and interviews in East Foyer
7:45 p.m. Award ceremony and dinner
WHO: Dinner chairman: Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide.
Host: David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and CPJ board member.
Award winners: CPJ 2016 International Press Freedom Awardees: Mahmoud Abou Zeid, the Egyptian freelance photographer known as Shawkan, Malini Subramaniam, a freelance journalist from India, Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, Óscar Martínez, an investigative reporter for online news magazine El Faro in El Salvador. Burton Benjamin Memorial Awardee: Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent and anchor at CNN.
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CPJ is a global, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide
Note to editors: Photos of awardees are available on request. Photos of the awards dinner will be made available to press following the event.
Media contact:
Kerry Paterson
Senior Advocacy and Communications Officer
Tel. +1 212 300 9031
Email: kpaterson@cpj.org
Mehdi Rahmati
Communications Associate
Tel. +1 212 300 9032
E-mail: press@cpj.org
EDITOR’S NOTE: This media advisory has been updated to reflect that David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, will be hosting CPJ’s 2016 International Press Freedom Awards dinner.