IHECS at the 31st edition of the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Awards

According to the world press freedom ranking established by RSF, only 12% of the global population lives in a country in which press freedom is guaranteed. These Awards reward four categories promoting the freedom of information : impact, independence, courage and photography.

Several luminaries were present, including the Director of the Centre for Civil Liberties, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk; the Vice-President of the European Commission, Vera Jourova; Faouzia Hariche, Alderwoman of French-speaking Public Education, Youth and Human Resources of Brussels; and Pierre Haski, President of RSF. Prizes were awarded to Colombian journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos (impact), Guatemalan journalist Jose Rubén Zamora (independence), Egyptian blogger Mohamed Oxygen (courage) and photographer Karine Pierre for her report on Pakistan (photo "Lucas Dolega-Saif ").

Throughout the ceremony, speakers highlighted the importance of defending press freedom as a fundamental right that enables journalists to practise their profession in complete independence. All nominees, without exception, faced censorship, various threats, harassment or imprisonment.

 

 

Emilie Nzuzi Yoka and Jamila Saïdi-Mrabet, Master of Journalism students at IHECS, produced all the video clips presenting the nominees in the four categories, supervised by Nicolas Bindelle, video professor. They took the opportunity to remind the audience of the basic tenets and values inherent in the profession, paying tribute to journalists murdered in the exercise of their profession, by presenting the "Courage Prize" to Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan (Egypt). 

It was a wonderful evening celebrating journalism and press freedom, major issues for the development of our democracies.