JoyNews’ Kwetey Nartey is one of the many journalists around the world who have been shortlisted as finalists for the RSF Press Freedom Awards.
The investigative journalist has infiltrated rebel groups, exposed a human trafficking syndicate and uncovered corruption cases that led to the resignation of senior government officials.
In his decade-long career as a journalist, he has investigated injustice, corruption in high places, and abuses of power in Ghanaian society.
The 32nd ceremony for Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s Press Freedom Prize will be held on December 4, 2024, in Washington, DC, hosted by journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
Around 25 individual journalists, teams of journalists, photographers, and media outlets from around the world have been nominated for RSF’s four traditional categories — courage, impact, independence, and the Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Prize (added in 2023) — as well as the new Prize for African Investigative Journalism – Mohamed Maïga, introduced this year.
This year, 18 journalists and journalist teams, two media outlets, and five photojournalists from 22 countries are listed for the prize.
They will be honored for their significant contributions to defending and promoting press freedom worldwide.
The award categories include five prizes. In addition to the four traditional categories — courage, impact, independence, and the Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Prize — the newly added Prize for African Investigative Journalism – Mohamed Maïga recognizes an African investigative journalist working on themes dear to Mohamed Maïga: human rights, the environment, education, and the right to information.
This award honors the memory of Mohamed Maïga, a Malian investigative journalist who championed social justice in Africa until his unjust death in 1984. It will be awarded by the Mohamed Maïga Association alongside RSF.
The courage prize:
Waël al-Dahdouh (Palestine)
Waël al-Dahdouh, head of Al Jazeera’s Gaza desk, is an experienced Palestinian journalist who embodies resilience and the fight for reliable information.
He has never stopped reporting, despite the loss of his wife, grandson and three of his children — one of whom was also a journalist for Al Jazeera — who were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip as they took refuge in the Nuseirat camp.
Al-Dahdouh was injured by an Israeli drone strike in December which killed his cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa and left for Qatar on 16 January to receive medical treatment.
Carmen Joukhadar (Lebanon):
Carmen Joukhadar, Al Jazeera’s Lebanon correspondent and a renowned journalist, was one of the reporters targeted by the Israeli strike that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah on 13 October, 2023.
Despite the danger and her injuries, Joukhadar was one of the first journalists to return to Southern Lebanon after the attack, and is one of the few reporters who continues to cover the war at the Lebanese-Israeli border.
She is a strong advocate for protecting journalists, especially war reporters.
Ruan Xiaohuan (“Program Think”) (China):
Ruan Xiaohuan, a Chinese blogger better known by the pseudonym “Program Think,” has spent years exposing the corruption and various wrongdoings of Chinese Communist Party leaders on his blog, which was launched in 2009 to provide advice on cybersecurity and how to circumvent the censorship of the “Great Firewall” of China.
He later translated foreign news articles, compiled data and produced investigative and political content, despite the Communist Party’s heavy repression of independent voices.
Aware of the danger, he concealed his activities from his loved ones and managed to cover his digital tracks until his enforced disappearance in May 2021.
In February 2023, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for inciting the subversion of state power. According to his wife, his health has deteriorated considerably since his detention.
The journalists of Iran International, BBC Persian and other exiled media (Iran):
Since September 2022, exiled Iranian journalists have faced unprecedented pressure and attacks from the Iranian government. Iran International and BBC Persian have been labelled as enemies and publicly threatened by the Iranian regime. Their journalists have received death threats and, in March, an Iran International journalist, Pouria Zeraati, was stabbed outside his home in London.
These journalists are not only subjected to alarming levels of online abuse — including graphic rape and death threats, hacking and smear campaigns — but their families in Iran are frequently targeted and punished by the authorities.
Gustavo Gorriti (Peru):
Gustavo Gorriti, founder of the news website IDL-Reporteros, is one of Latin America’s most celebrated journalists. His work triggered criminal investigations and spurred the downfall of presidents.
The founder of the news website IDL-Reporteros, Gorriti is regularly the victim of smear campaigns and attacks on his newsroom. He is also targeted by legal proceedings where, despite intimidation, he fights to protect his sources.
The 76-year-old’s illustrious career has been marked by death threats from drug traffickers and his kidnapping by military intelligence agents in the 1990s.
The impact prize
Motaz Azaiza (Palestine):
The face of a new generation of Palestinian journalists with a strong social media presence, Motaz Azaiza has enabled nearly 18 million people to follow the daily realities of the war in Gaza through his Instagram account.
A freelance photographer and translator before 7 October, he is one of many young Palestinians who were transformed into journalists by the war, like his fellow reporters Plestia Alaqad and Bisan Owda.
Threatened with death, the 24-year-old photojournalist, who lost fifteen of his relatives in an air strike in mid-October, left for Qatar on 23 January after 108 days of covering the barbarity of the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Floriane Irangabiye (Burundi):
A journalist for radio Igicaniro, Floriane Irangabiye was arrested in August 2022 by the Burundi National Intelligence Service (SNR), which directly reports to the President of the Republic.
On 3 January 2023, she was found guilty of “undermining the internal security of national territory” on vague and unsubstantiated charges linked to her radio programmes, which were critical of the Burundian authorities and broadcast from Rwanda in order to keep taboo subjects in the Burundian public debate.
On 14 August 2024, after nearly two years in prison, Floriane Irangabiye was pardoned by Burundi’s president.
Huy Duc (Vietnam):
Before his arrest on 1 June 2024, Huy Duc was one of Vietnam’s most influential independent journalists.
Through his articles and political analyses published on blogs and social media — including his Facebook account of more than 350,000 followers — he provided the Vietnamese public rare access to information otherwise censored by the Hanoi regime.
He had posted several articles on Facebook about the current political turmoil in Vietnam in the days preceding his detention and indictment for “abusing democratic freedoms.”
Born in 1962, Duc worked for various Vietnamese newspapers, in which he condemned the abuse of power demonstrated by many officials before being fired in 2009 for his critical tone.
He then specialised in publishing online articles about Vietnamese politics and traced the country’s recent political history in his book The Winning Side, published in 2012.
Nataliya Gumenyuk (Ukraine):
Nataliya Gumenyuk is a prominent Ukrainian journalist, CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL) and co-founder of The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies, an NGO that documents war crimes and trains journalists to record, collect, and conserve witness statements in a way that preserves their integrity for use in court.
The Reckoning Project published one of the first investigations into Russia’s deportations of Ukrainian children.
After these investigations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023.
Sota.Vision (Russia):
Sota.Vision is one of the last independent media in Russia whose young journalists continue to cover the country’s protests, trials and government repression, particularly on video.
Their Telegram channel has become a vital news source for many exiled organisations, including media outlets.
Their correspondents are frequently harassed and two of their journalists, Antonina Kravtsova (known as Favorskaya) and Artyom Kriger, are currently in detention.
Antonina Favorskaya covered the trials against presidential opponent Alexei Navalny before he died in prison on 16 February 2024. In May 2024, two journalists from Sota.Vision were fined for violating the repressive “foreign agents” law.
The independence prize
Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala (Democratic Republic of Congo):
Arrested in September 2023, Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, Jeune Afrique‘s correspondent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was accused of fabricating and distributing a forged document from the intelligence service.
After six months of arbitrary detention, seven rejected requests for release and a conviction intended to pressure Tshiamala into revealing his source, he was released on 19 March.
The day after his release, Tshiamala assured that he would continue his fight for “fearless independent journalism” and invited Congolese journalists to “not give in to any pressure.”
Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) (Hong-Kong):
HKFP is a non-profit, independent, and award-winning English-language online media founded in 2015 by journalists concerned about the decline of press freedom in the former British colony.
Despite the enactment of the National Security Law and the shutdown of numerous media in the territory, HKFP remains one of the rare media covering subjects considered taboo by Beijing, including human rights, politics, and trials of political figures.
HKFP’s journalists – who uphold demanding standards for ethics, independence and editorial quality – are frequently harassed by the authorities.
They have been tracked and barred from entering certain official events, and access to the website has been blocked in mainland China since 2015.
Ravish Kumar (India):
Ravish Kumar personifies the Indian media’s resistance to political pressure and is a true hero of journalism in the country.
With his sharp, hard-hitting stories and desire to expose the truth, he has shed light on crucial issues and given a voice to the voiceless, significantly influencing public opinion and politics.
Kumar was brutally ousted from NDTV, a TV channel taken over by a businessman close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and subject to smear campaigns.
Nevertheless, he continued his quest to inform the public via his YouTube channel, which boasts 11 million subscribers. He has stood firm against government repression by defending the country’s journalistic space.
Alsu Kurmasheva (Russia/USA):
Alsu Kurmasheva was detained by Russian authorities in October 2023 on charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent” – the first such criminal case in Russia – and for discrediting the army via her participation in the publication Saying No To War: 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
The book breaks the taboo of discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and compiles testimonies from residents of Russia’s Volga region.
It was published by Kurmasheva’s employer, the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
She was released, along with journalist Evan Gershkovich, during a prisoner exchange on 1 August.
Anora Sarkorova (Tajikistan):
Journalist Anora Sarkorova specialises in human rights violations.
While in exile, she covered the repression and massacre of Pamiris in the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan in May 2022, as well as the violation of the rights of Tajik nationals in Russia after the March 2024 terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall.
Harassed despite her exile in Europe, the former journalist for the BBC’s Russian service is being prosecuted for extremism in Tajikistan, and is on the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ list of wanted journalists.
The prize for African investigative journalism – Mohamed Maïga
David Dembélé (Mali)
David Dembélé, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO), has worked as a journalist for several Malian media — including Journal du Mali and 26 Mars — and contributed to Le Monde Afrique.
He has carried out multiple investigations in Mali and has also collaborated with several West African journalist groups.
A member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), he has contributed to notable investigations such as The Fatal Extraction Project, the Panama Papers, SwissLeaks, West Africa leaks,and the Pandora Papers.
Also a data journalist, he is a founding member of the Malian Network of Investigative Journalists (RMJI) and has participated in several investigative journalism meetings and training courses around the world.
His last investigation, published under a pseudonym, earned him death threats.
Mariam Ouédraogo (Burkina Faso)
A journalist for the state-owned daily Sidwaya, Mariam Ouédraogo investigates sexual violence linked to terrorism.
Internationally recognised for her work, she won the prestigious Bayeux Prize for war correspondents in October 2022.
Ouédraogo’s work highlights the suffering of vulnerable people, particularly those affected by the security crisis, and her writing tells the stories of these communities.
Most of her work focuses on women, children, and other vulnerable groups.
Kwetey Nartey (Ghana)
Noël Konan (Ivory Coast)
Journalist Noël Konan is the publishing director of a new investigative website, www.letau.net, and a member of both the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa. He participated in several investigations alongside the ICIJ, including the Pandora Papers and the West Africa Leaks.
He is often threatened by authorities, and was wrongly taken into police custody for 24 hours in July 2022. In March 2024, while carrying out an investigation, he was threatened by an agent of an anti-banditry unit allegedly involved in extorting funds, naturalisation fraud and passport fraud.
Bakare Majeed (Nigeria):
A seasoned Premium Times journalist, Bakare Majeed is known for his investigations, particularly his reports on major corruption scandals in the National Assembly that had significant political impact.
His 2023 coverage of a House of Representatives committee led to its suspension and an investigation led by Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption agency, the ICPC, into all parties involved in the scandal.
Over the past seven years, Bakare Majeed’s in-depth analysis and reporting have significantly impacted public discourse on Nigeria’s economy, politics and governance.
The Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Prize
Laurence Geai (France) – Les enfants perdus du Califat
At the end of March 2019, the fall of the Islamic State’s Caliphate — which had been instated five years earlier in Syria and Iraq — led thousands of Islamic State militants to surrender.
The surviving men were subsequently crammed into prisons, while their wives and children were herded into Al Hol and Roj, Kurdish-run camps in Syria.
In Al Hol alone, NGOs have counted 48,000 detainees, half of whom are under the age of twelve. Around 120 French children are still being held in the Roj camp.
Laurence Geai, a French photojournalist who began her career in 2014, documented these children in her series “Les enfants perdus du Califat” (“The Lost Children of the Caliphate”).
Diego Ibarra Sanchez (Spain) – The Hidden War
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, tensions in southern Lebanon have been at their highest point since the 2006 conflict.
Ongoing hostility between Israel and Hezbollah has led to a dangerous exchange of cross-border fire, affecting many communities along the Lebanese border.
This is the subject of “The Hidden War” series by Diego Ibarra Sánchez, a renowned documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Lebanon.
His work primarily focuses on in-depth visual storytelling, and he is known for his critical stance on how images are used in contemporary society.
For Sanchez, photography must do more than act as a window into world events; it must provoke questions and reflection.
Antoine Lallican (France) – A Summer in the Donbass
After the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023, the Kremlin’s troops regained the upper hand in the east of the country, in the Donbass region.
Russia’s bombs have been preceding its soldiers throughout the entire region, striking city centres and fields alike.
Since the fall of Avdivka — a town that served as a stronghold for the Ukrainian army — last February, the Russians have been advancing towards a route that crosses the region from west to east.
Antoine Lallican tells this story in “Un été dans le Donbass” (“A Summer in the Donbass”). Based in Paris, Lallican works both in France and internationally for the European press.
Passionate about documentary photography, he shifted to photojournalism in 2018 during the Yellow Jackets protests in France, which oriented his focus on social issues.
Sergey Ponomarev (Russia) – West Bank
Since 7 October, the world’s attention has been focused on Gaza: a humanitarian crisis marked by thousands killed, millions displaced, and dozens of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
Yet the West Bank is also experiencing some of its darkest days, which Sergey Ponomarev illustrates in “West Bank”.
Ponomarev is a Russian photojournalist with over 15 years of experience covering news, war and conflict, sports, and politics. He worked as a photographer for Associated Press from 2004 to 2011.
Gael Turine (Belgium) – The Ravages of Tranq Dope
For the past thirty-six months, one person has died of an overdose every five minutes in the United States.
This opioid epidemic has been exacerbated by a new drug cocktail called tranq dope, which is around fifty times more potent and addictive than heroin.
Philadelphia’s Kensington neighbourhood, the setting of Gael Turine’s “The Ravages of Tranq Dope”, is the epicentre of tranq sales and consumption on the East Coast of the United States.
Turine, whose career has spanned 25 years, lives in Brussels. His work appears in various international outlets, and he has authored several monographs.
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