CHRONiCLE
Jailed Chinese journalist gets Golden Pen of Freedom
A CHINESE journalist serving a 10-year prison sentence for revealing his government’s orders to newspapers to censor their reporting of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary was awarded the 2007 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
The award to Shi Tao, who was imprisoned after the American search engine company Yahoo provided information to the Chinese authorities that led to his arrest, was made on June 4, the 18th anniversary of the massacre.
The award was presented during the opening ceremonies of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world’s press, which drew more than 1,600 newspaper executives and editors from 105 countries to Cape Town, South Africa.
WAN also announced a campaign to win the release of Shi and dozens of other journalists and cyber-dissidents in Chinese jails, and to keep the cases in the forefront of news coverage in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics next year.
Shi is serving a 10-year sentence on charges of “leaking state secrets” for writing an e-mail about media restrictions in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2004. The e-mail was picked up by several overseas Internet portals—and also by Chinese authorities—with the assistance of Yahoo. The Internet service provider gave state security authorities information that allowed them to trace the message to a computer that Shi used at the newspaper where he worked, the Dangdai Shang Bao.
The award to Shi Tao has already provoked the ire of the Chinese authorities. The official China Newspaper Association has demanded the award be withdrawn because a Chinese court “handled the case according to law and made the appropriate sentence” and that China’s constitution protects press freedom.
WAN, the global association of the newspaper industry, has awarded the Golden Pen annually since 1961. Past winners include Argentina’s Jacobo Timerman (1980), South Africa’s Anthony Head (1986), China’s Dai Qing (1992), Vietnam’s Doan Viet Hoat (1998), Zimbabwe’s Geoffrey Nyarota (2002), and Sudan’s Mahjoub Mohamed Salih (2005). Last year’s winner was Akbar Ganji of Iran.
Filipino journalist wins New Zealand award
FILIPINO JOURNALIST Divina C. Paredes was awarded best magazine feature writer in the information and communications technology category in the 34th Qantas Media Awards in New Zealand.
Paredes, who has been editor of CIO New Zealand Magazine since 2004 when it was known as MIS New Zealand, was cited for her article, “On the leading edge,” an interview with Scott Houston, former chief technology officer of Weta Digital, the special effects company founded by Kiwi director Peter Jackson of “Lord of the Rings” and “King Kong.” Houston now heads the New Zealand Supercomputing Center.
The article appeared in MIS Magazine, which has since merged with CIO New Zealand, and is published by Fairfax Business Media.
Paredes was also named the first Fronde Synergy Hi-Tech Journalist of the Year by auditing and consultancy firm PriceWarehouseCoopers in Auckland in November 2006.
MIS Magazine was also named the best trade professional magazine during the 2005 Qantas Media Awards.
Severino, Bondoc now in Rotary Hall of Fame
GMA-7 NETWORK reporter Howie Severino and The Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc won their fourth and third awards, respectively, from the Rotary Club to enter the Hall of Fame.
Severino was named Investigative Journalist of the Year for the second consecutive year aside from the two Broadcast Journalist of the Year awards he has won previously. On the other hand, Bondoc, who had been cited by the Rotary twice before, joined the prestigious group for winning as Opinion Writer of the Year.
Other winners were GMA-7 Network (TV Station of the Year), BusinessMirror (Newspaper of the Year), dzMM (Radio Station of the Year), Kara David (TV Broadcaster of the Year), and Kiko Callado (Radio Broadcaster of the Year).
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