Miami (August 29, 2023) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announced today that it has awarded the 2024 Grand Prize for Press Freedom, the highest distinction granted by the organization, to Journalism in Exile. This award honors colleagues and media outlets that have increasingly been forced to internally displace or migrate to other countries due to violence, threats, and persecution by criminal groups, corrupt officials, and authoritarian governments.
The Executive Committee and the Awards Commission of the IAPA thus recognized the defense of freedom of expression and the commitment to truth under circumstances of extreme risk and adversity. This distinction highlights the intrinsic value of free and independent journalism, and it underscores the crucial importance of protecting and supporting journalists who continue their work despite facing persecution and exile.
Roberto Rock, president of the IAPA and director of the Mexican portal La Silla Rota, stated, "By granting this award, the organization sends a powerful message about the inalienable right to press freedom and the fundamental role it plays in preserving democratic societies." Rock highlighted that the award "also emphasizes the resilience and sacrifice of those who have been forced to leave their homes, risking everything to keep the international community informed."
In the last two years, the IAPA has documented an increasing number of journalists in exile, primarily from countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guatemala, Cuba, and Ecuador, and internally displaced in Mexico and Colombia. The phenomenon also includes media outlets, particularly in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, some of which operate abroad due to systematic persecution.
The IAPA has decided to dedicate special attention to the issue of displaced and exiled journalists, with the creation of a Subcommittee on Journalism from Exile, chaired by Juan Lorenzo Holmann, general manager of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa. Additionally, the IAPA has contributed to a special report prepared by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, participated in international conferences, and aims to create a network of Journalists in Exile to provide comprehensive assistance to journalists facing precarious conditions as they are forced to leave their countries.
Since 1954, the IAPA has awarded the Grand Prize for Press Freedom to journalists, media, and organizations from the American continent that stand out for their staunch defense and promotion of press freedom and expression or that suffer abuses and attacks for their journalistic work. In recent years, the prize has been awarded to Nicaraguan Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, Cuban Henry Constantín Ferreiro, Colombian Jineth Bedoya, Argentine Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú, Mexican Carmen Aristegui, American Roberto Cox, as well as collectively and postmortem to murdered Mexican journalists and other groups and collectives of journalists from Colombia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, among others.
The award will be presented at the IAPA General Assembly from October 17 to 20 at the Quinto Centenario Hotel in Córdoba, Argentina. President Rock will present the award. It will be symbolically received by journalist Fabián Medina, chief of information at La Prensa from Nicaragua, currently working from exile in Costa Rica.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
