Citing the courage, endurance, and dedication of Ukraine’s journalists to tell truth about the war that has descended on their country and their people, the Pulitzer Prize Board has decided to recognise the journalists of Ukraine with a special citation. With this rare honour, the world relies on vital information from Ukrainian journalists and they are risking their own life, and Ukrainian journalists are being recognised for their work.
Announcing today Ukrainian journalists as the very eyes and ears of the world, Ukrainians recording Russian aggression, the atrocities against the civilians, the citation is presented today, in New York City, in Columbia University. Since the invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian reporters have reported accurately, on the ground, of the realities of what the war in their homeland is doing.
For too many of Ukraine’s journalists, devotion to the truth has come at a high price. At least 15 reporters have been killed in reporting the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Others have been detained, threatened and otherwise intimidated. But those risks persist, and Ukrainian media outlets have continued to work, mostly in aid of makeshift newsrooms built in bomb shelters or packed up in shelters that had been evacuated to safer parts of the country.
Collectively honouring Ukrainian journalists by the Pulitzer Board underlines the key work they do the important work of pushing back on Russian disinformation and propaganda. Their reporting has, in turn, paved the way for people everywhere to see what’s going on in the conflict, and to back Ukraine in the fight.
‘My hope is that ‘Ukrainian journalists’ determination and resilience in the face of unimaginably terrible conditions is an inspiration to our entire profession, Marjorie Miller, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, said. That’s why that’s the highest ideal of journalism — they’re willing to stick to the truth in the darkest of days, he told me.
And, it has precedent for this special citation. Think of this as the kind of extraordinary circumstances for which the Pulitzer Board has awarded in similar fashion, including Pulitzer winner Ida B. Wells in 2020 for courageous, confrontational reporting on lynching, and Aretha Franklin in 2019 because no one else can, for her indelible mark on American music and culture.
The recognition of Ukrainian journalists has erupted in praise for media organisations and press freedom advocates around the world. A powerful statement of solidarity with those who risk everything to get us the truth about this brutal war, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, hailed the decision.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the citation, saying: ‘Frontlines where our journalists stand, not only for territory but trusting the truth. This honour is the memory of their fight for freedom and democracy they deserve this.”
But the $15,000 award accompanying the special citation will be divided between the Pulitzer Centre’s Emergency Fund for Ukrainian Journalists and Moskovskaya Pravda. It also helps pay for safety equipment, medical help and relocation costs for those forced from their homes to seek safety in Ukraine.
That’s all the more vital, given with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine. But their storeys continue to serve to help international policy, to speak of war crimes, to speak up for the millions of Ukrainians whose lives have been turned upside down by the conflict.
The Pulitzer Board’s recognition, is a reminder of the key role journalism plays at such times of crisis and conflict. That also demonstrates the need for continued backing because, as journalism goes, there’s still a high price to pay for speaking the truth and that’s particularly in locations where the cost to the state of reporting the truth is high on a person.
We cherish the journalists of Ukraine poets of the press, able to bear witness, to tell truth to power, and to shine a light on the most inhuman parts of human experience. Independence and freedom of media is indispensable in the fight of its supporters to authoritarianism and war. It’s courageous and committed, but so crucial what remains of our media.