CPJ is honored to posthumously present its 2024 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom, to Christophe Deloire, head of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
A tireless defender of press freedom worldwide, Christophe Deloire was the head of media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In his 12 years at the helm of RSF, Deloire expanded the group’s global footprint and raised its profile with governments.
Under Deloire’s watch, RSF launched the Journalism Trust Initiative, a program to certify media organizations to restore public trust in the news, and the Forum for Democracy, a program aimed at heading off threats to democratic thought and freedoms.
Deloire worked as an investigative reporter and led a prominent French journalism school, Centre de formation des journalistes (CFJ), before becoming director of RSF. Deloire traveled worldwide to lobby governments and defend journalists behind bars or under threat. On June 8, 2024, Deloire died at 53 after a battle with cancer.