Six journalists–from Croatia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Russia, Taiwan, and the United States–who have risked their freedom and their lives to report the news will receive the 1997 International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The recipients are Christine Anyanwu, imprisoned editor in chief of the independent Nigerian news weekly The Sunday Magazine; Ying Chan, U.S. correspondent and contributing editor of the Hong Kong magazine Yazhou Zhoukan, an international Chinese-language newsweekly, and Shieh Chung-liang, its Taiwan bureau chief; Viktor Ivancic, editor in chief of Feral Tribune, a weekly newspaper in Croatia; Yelena Masyuk, special correspondent of NTV, independent television of Russia; and Freedom Neruda, managing/senior editor of La Voie, an independent daily newspaper in the Ivory Coast.
The International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists who have courageously provided independent news coverage and analysis in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, and threats of death.
CPJ will also honor Ted Koppel, anchor and managing editor of ABC’s “Nightline,” with the Burton Benjamin Award for his contributions to the cause of press freedom, and will present a special tribute to renowned broadcast news producer Fred W. Friendly.
The seventh annual awards will be presented October 23 during a formal dinner ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City attended by leading national and international journalists. The gala benefit marks CPJ’s 16th year.
Speakers at the black-tie event will include Tom Brokaw of NBC, who will be master of ceremonies; Dan Rather of CBS; Peter Jennings of ABC; Christiane Amanpour of CNN; Bill Keller of The New York Times; journalist and author Kati Marton of CPJ’s board of directors; Ed Bradley and Andy Rooney of CBS; and Roger Rosenblatt, writer and essayist. Michael D. Eisner, chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company, is dinner chairman.
“The journalists #receiving International Press Freedom Awards risk personal and political peril in upholding the highest standards of their profession,” said William A. Orme, Jr., CPJ’s executive director, in announcing their names. “Their determination to provide independent news coverage in these most difficult circumstances advances the cause of press freedom for journalists everywhere.”