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The Ortega y Gasset Awards for Journalism Ceremony 2010
04-05-2010
The Ortega y Gasset Awards recognize the courage of reporters and pays tributre to a profession that seeks to tell the truth.
Through patience and determination, by tracing the movements of 500-euro notes and by investigating Vatican protocol, the biggest corruption scandal in Spain's democratic history was uncovered. That's journalism. So is seeking out faces and voices, which are never seen nor heard. Award winners at the 27th annual Ortega y Gasset Awards did all of these things and were honored at the prize-giving ceremony held Tuesday -which coincided with the 34th anniversary of El País. Grupo PRISA CEO Juan Luis Cebrián praised the winners for their courage in struggling against the abuses of power, for exercising a profession that seeks out the truth and then dares to tell the truth, as he addressed an audience of leading figures from the worlds of politics, culture, business and the media, including the vice president of the Spanish government, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, the minister for defense Carme Chacón, the minister for foreign affairs Miguel Angel Moratinos, the minister for equality Bibiana Aído and the minister for housing Beatriz Corredor.
Personifying these values of rigor and independence was award-winner Jean Daniel. The career of this principled journalist, born in Algeria 90 years ago, perhaps best illustrates the type of journalism that critiques and that combats lies with courage and determination. The founder of the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur, which remains one of the most critical voices on the left, received the award for most outstanding career. Jean Daniel expressed his pride and extreme satisfaction at having dedicated his life to "the most noble" profession in the world, one that places great moral demands on those who practice it.
The award for best news reporting went to El País's own national newsdesk for their rigorous investigation into the Gürtel scandal, which involves Partido Popular politicians. José Manuel Romero picked up the award on behalf of the journalists who spent 14 months navigating their way through obstacles to reveal the web of corruption. He said he wished to share the award with all those "newsdesks, whether working in large or small media outlets, who have worked towards the same goals and with the same passion".
Having come from Ciudad Juarez, the most dangerous place on the planet, Judith Torrea arrived at Madrid's Circulo de Bellas Artes to pick up her award. The 37-year-old journalist has been reporting from the Mexican border what few others have dared to tell. Through her blog Ciudad Juárez, en la sombra del narcotráfico (Ciudad Juárez, under the shadow of drug trafficking), Torrea daily denounces the criminal and indiscriminate harassment suffered by the people who live in Ciudad Juarez, an important way station on the drug route between Colombia and the US. In a moving speech, the blogger announced that she would be donating part of her prize money to a project helping the 10,000 orphans that the brutal terror of the drug traffickers has left in its wake.
Another prizewinner, José Cendón reported from a country torn apart by a bloody war. 35-year-old Cendón picked up the award for Photojournalism for his report on Somalia, where he spent 40 days held hostage. Picking up his award, he paid tribute to Africa, a forgotten continent, where he lived for six years, a continent, he said, that is all too often "unfortunately overlooked by the media".
Juan Luis Cebrián closed the proceedings with a speech in which he paid tribute to journalism and spoke of the uncertain future facing traditional media, particularly print press. Cebrián, a journalist and academic, gave the audience a brief history of press freedom in Spain and around the world, and highlighted the need for the public to be informed. Turning to the impact of new technology and the globalization of information, he said, "the arrival of the internet has revolutionized models of social relations. And the financial crisis has lead the media to question its own future." The media world as we know it was coming to an end, Cebrián said. But he pointed out that journalists would never disappear, whatever their media or "otherwise democratic coexistence would be seriously endangered".
Source: EL PAÍS
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