Journalism Awards Not Given Or Taken Lightly

Michael Hedges October 24, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

Big prizes for journalism are treasures. Skill and talent are acknowledged far too infrequently given the breadth of professionals toiling to bring light to the world. The recognition is important, too, as a marker. Exemplary attainment sends a message.

Last week Indian authorities barred Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo from boarding a flight from Delhi to New York, where she was to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Immigration police merely stamped the valid visa “cancelled without prejudice” and sent her away. Officials declined to give a reason.

Ms Mattoo was part of a Reuters team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography covering the Covid-19 pandemic in India. That team also included Adnan Abidi, Amit Dave and the late Danish Saddiqui, who was killed on assignment in Afghanistan in July 2021. The award was announced last May and the recognition ceremony took place October 20.

“There is no reason why Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo, who had all the right travel documents and has won a Pulitzer–one of the most prestigious journalism awards–should have been prevented from traveling abroad,” said Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Asia program coordinator Beh Lih Yi in a statement. “This decision is arbitrary and excessive. Indian authorities must immediately cease all forms of harassment and intimidation against journalists covering the situation in Kashmir.”

"The Indian government and nationalist groups are escalating intimidation and attacks against journalists, from trumped up arrests and legal charges to coordinated online and offline abuse," said PEN America chief executive Suzanne Nossel to VOA (October 19). "The Indian government not only condones but encourages this abuse, especially against journalists raising the alarm about the rising tide of discrimination and hatred against Muslim communities.” Ms Mattoo’s absence from the Pulitzer Prize ceremony was noted.

In July Ms Mattoo was similarly prevented by Indian authorities from traveling to France for a book launch and photo exhibition, reported RFI (July 4). Again, no official reason was given. The government of nationalist president Narendra Modi has placed her on a list of Kashmiri journalists not allowed to travel abroad due to inconvenient reporting. A regional governor earlier this month issued an order that “all press correspondents, photographers and videographers” provide “certificates of character” to cover a campaign rally by president Modi. It was withdrawn within 24 hours.

Always well-noted in the news business is the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. It was won this year by the Washington Post (WaPo) staff. More than 100 were involved in coverage of the January 6, 2021 right-wing riots intended to pervert the nation’s laws to prevent the legal transfer of presidential power by invading the US Capitol building. On that alarming day WaPo was the first news outlet to the event as “an attempted coup.” The term has stuck to this day.

“The more we learned, the more we understood how violent and dangerous it was,” said WaPo managing editor Steven Ginsberg, in a statement accompanying the announcement by the Pulitzer Prize board. “It’s just critical for people to understand that and not look away, and appreciate what happened that day.” WaPo’s live stream of the reporting continues. The Washington Post first received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1973 for coverage the Watergate scandal.

Unsurprisingly, inconvenient news coverage does not please former US president Donald Trump. At a political rally (October 22) in Texas, of course, he proclaimed that a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board would be forthcoming “within two weeks.” His complaint - this time - is the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting jointly awarded to the Washington Post and New York Times in 2018, which detailed Russian Federation interference with the 2016 US presidential election and Trump campaign connections to such. Trump wants the Pulitzer Prize board to rescind the 2018 award and, instead, honor talk show hosts from Fox News, principally controlled by the Murdoch family.

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