Seven Journalists Of Courage And Impact Honored At EWC International Media Conference In Manila
At an awards banquet held Monday evening as part of the East-West Center’s International Media Conference this week in Manila, Philippines, the Center recognized seven journalists who exemplify the impact that EWC media program participants have had throughout Asia and the Pacific.
Since they began in 2014, the “Journalists of Courage and Impact” awards have been given out at each of the Center’s biennial media conferences, with 30 total recipients thus far. “This award really reflects the East-West Center’s commitment to the critical role of journalism in fostering good governance and healthy and free societies,” master of ceremonies Glenn van Zutphen, founder and CEO of Van Media Group in Singapore, said at the ceremony. “It also reminds us all of the adversity and challenges facing many journalists today. As we sit here tonight, scores of journalists across the globe reporting courageously in conflict zones and elsewhere are being targeted for their dedication to shining light in some very, very dark places, and to holding power to accountability.”
This year’s honorees are:
Sincha Dimara,
News Editor, Inside
PNG, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
After she
was suspended by the country’s largest private TV station
while investigating a series of stories on a controversial
Australian businessman and convicted drug dealer living in
the country, the station’s newsroom of 24 journalists
walked out in protest. As a result, Dimara and the entire
team were fired. Refusing to be silenced, she and her team
created a new online news service, “Inside PNG,” which
today is owned and run by its journalists and content
producers, with a mission to provide the best possible
independent alternative for Papua New
Guineans.
Tom Grundy, Editor-in-Chief
& Founder, Hong
Kong Free Press, Hong Kong.
Grundy founded the
nonprofit Hong Kong Free Press in 2015 as an impartial and
independent news source funded by readers, run by
journalists, and backed by an ethics code. As Hong Kong has
plummeted in international press freedom indices in recent
years, his team has seen it all: cyberattacks, threats, visa
trouble, harassment, physical attacks, media bans, and more
than their fair share of pepper spray and tear gas. But they
have also won prestigious awards and grants and were
nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as they remain focused on
delivering original features and on-the-ground
reporting.
Alan C. Miller,
Founder, the News Literacy Project, Washington, DC,
USA.
A former Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter
with The Los Angeles Times, Miller helped launch the
field of news literacy when he started the News Literacy
Project in 2008. Today, the project’s widely acclaimed
resources are being used in all 50 states, helping students,
teachers, and people of all ages and backgrounds learn how
to identify credible news and understand the indispensable
role a free press has in a democracy. For this work, Alan
has received the East-West Center’s Distinguished
Alumni Award and the 2022 AARP Purpose Prize, and he was
named one of the Washingtonians of the Year in
2020.
John Nery, Columnist and
Editorial Consultant, Rappler,
Quezon City, Philippines.
An acclaimed journalist for
over 25 years, Nery’s analysis and reporting focus on
politics, history, and the rule of law, but he also tracks
climate change issues and the South China Sea disputes. He
is active in efforts to help journalists organize themselves
against attacks on journalism.Nery is a member of the
board of trustees of the Asian Center for Journalism in
Manila and a member of the board of directors of the World
Justice Project in Washington, DC. He has received both
national and international recognition for his work,
including a National Book Award in the journalism category
and an Award for Excellence from the Society of Publishers
in Asia for opinion writing. He is a biographer of
Philippines national hero Jose Rizal, and a book of
reflections on journalism, media, and the press is
forthcoming.
Ana Marie Pamintuan,
Editor-in-Chief, The
Philippine Star, Manila,
Philippines.
Starting as a reporter and rising through
the ranks to become Editor-in-Chief, Ana Marie Pamintuan has
been with the English-language daily The Philippine Star
since the paper was launched in 1986. Along the way, she
has covered various beats from the police and judiciary to
local government and national politics, and has built a
reputation for fearless journalism, addressing controversial
and sensitive topics with clarity and insight. She has won
numerous awards for her work, most recently as Journalist of
the Year by the Manila Overseas Press Club, the oldest press
club in Asia. In addition, she co-hosts "The
Chiefs," a news and current affairs television talk show
that has won several prestigious awards for public affairs
programming.
Kamal Siddiqi, Former
Director of News, Aaj TV, Karachi, Pakistan.
A journalist
and media analyst with over 30 years of experience in print,
digital and electronic media, Kamal Siddiqi was the Director
of News for Aaj TV, one of Pakistan’s leading news
channels, until March 2024. Previously, he was the first
editor of The Express Tribune, an English language
daily in Pakistan affiliated with the International New
York Times from 2009-2016. Like many journalists in
Pakistan, he has faced intimidation, harassment, and threats
by both state and non-state actors, as well as corporate
pressures. He has written extensively and spoken widely
about the state of the media in Pakistan, attacks on
journalists, media censorship, and state harassment of
reporters.
Soe Myint, Editor-in-Chief
and Managing Director, Mizzima,
Chiang Mai, Thailand.
In 1998, Soe Myint cofounded
the news organization Mizzima in India while living in exile
from Myanmar’s previous military dictatorship. Despite
harsh government treatment of anyone accused of giving
information to news outlets, Mizzima News continued to
provide accurate and timely information on the closed nation
to exiled citizens and the outside world. In 2012, Mizzima
became the first exiled news organization to return to the
country as it emerged for a period from repressive military
rule.
But in 2021, after the military again seized full power and plunged the country into civil war, Soe Myint was forced to take Mizzima into exile once again when the regime forcibly shut down its free-to-air TV channel. Operating from across the border in Thailand, however, Mizzima continues to broadcast and publish independent news and information reaching more than 30 million readers and viewers worldwide.