CPJ News Alert

DATE & TIME: Friday, November 20, 1998, at 10 a.m.

EVENT: Briefing with CPJ International Press Freedom Award Recipients

PLACE: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 13th floor,
National Press Building, 14th and F Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C

Journalists Grémah Boucar, publisher and owner and director of Radio Anfani, NigerÕs leading private radio stations, and Gustavo Gorriti, an investigative reporter exiled from Peru who is currently working for La Prensa in Panama, will discuss the status of press freedom in their countries and regions at a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Friday, November 20, at 10 a.m. Two journalists who were recently released from prison -- one from Nigeria and one from Vietnam -- will also take part.

Ann K. Cooper, CPJÕs executive director, will moderate the discussion, and CPJ regional program coordinators will also speak. The event is co-sponsored by the Freedom of Information Committee of the National Press Club.

Boucar and Gorriti are two of the five 1998 recipients of the Committee to Protect JournalistsÕ International Press Freedom Awards, which will be presented in New York on Tuesday, November 24. Boucar exemplifies AfricaÕs few truly independent radio broadcasters in his refusal to allow government intimidation to drive him from the airwaves. Gorriti, one of Latin AmericaÕs top investigative reporters, is an uncompromising advocate for press freedom who has survived abduction by armed commandos and continual legal harassment.

The other 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipients are Goenawan Mohamad of Indonesia, chief editor of the newly reopened Tempo magazine; Pavel Sheremet of Belarus, Minsk bureau chief for ORT Russian Television and editor of Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta; and Ruth Simon of Eritrea, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for nearly two years for doing her job as an independent journalist.

The two formerly imprisoned journalists who will speak at the briefing, both past winners of the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards, are Doan Viet Hoat of Vietnam, a 1993 award recipient who was freed early in September after eight years in prison, and Chris Anyanwu of Nigeria, a 1997 award recipient who was released in June after more than three years in prison.

	CPJ International Press Freedom Award Recipients To Speak at National Press Club Nov. 20
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DATE & TIME: Friday, November 20, 1998, at 10 a.m. EVENT: Briefing with CPJ International Press Freedom Award Recipients PLACE: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 13th floor, National Press Building, 14th and F Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C Journalists Grémah Boucar, publisher and owner and director of Radio Anfani, NigerÕs leading private radio stations, and Gustavo Gorriti, an investigative reporter exiled from Peru who is currently working for La Prensa in Panama, will discuss the status of press freedom in their countries and regions at a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Friday, November 20, at 10 a.m. Two journalists who were recently released from prison -- one from Nigeria and one from Vietnam -- will also take part. Ann K. Cooper, CPJÕs executive director, will moderate the discussion, and CPJ regional program coordinators will also speak. The event is co-sponsored by the Freedom of Information Committee of the National Press Club. Boucar and Gorriti are two of the five 1998 recipients of the Committee to Protect JournalistsÕ International Press Freedom Awards, which will be presented in New York on Tuesday, November 24. Boucar exemplifies AfricaÕs few truly independent radio broadcasters in his refusal to allow government intimidation to drive him from the airwaves. Gorriti, one of Latin AmericaÕs top investigative reporters, is an uncompromising advocate for press freedom who has survived abduction by armed commandos and continual legal harassment. The other 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipients are Goenawan Mohamad of Indonesia, chief editor of the newly reopened Tempo magazine; Pavel Sheremet of Belarus, Minsk bureau chief for ORT Russian Television and editor of Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta; and Ruth Simon of Eritrea, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for nearly two years for doing her job as an independent journalist. The two formerly imprisoned journalists who will speak at the briefing, both past winners of the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards, are Doan Viet Hoat of Vietnam, a 1993 award recipient who was freed early in September after eight years in prison, and Chris Anyanwu of Nigeria, a 1997 award recipient who was released in June after more than three years in prison.