CLOSE

Media Defence’s Partner FLIP Receives Prestigious Award in Colombia

Media Defence’s Partner FLIP Receives Prestigious Award in Colombia

On 27 November, Media Defence’s partner Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) was awarded journalist of the year at Premios Simón Bolivar. This award was granted in recognition of FLIP’s work defending press freedom in Colombia.

Colombia has for a long time been a difficult country for journalists to work in. Reporters without Borders rank Colombia at 129 in its Press Freedom Index. As FLIP has highlighted, the last two years have seen extreme violence used against the press: 419 attacks have been reported by FLIP throughout 2019 and 477 were reported in 2018. This is an alarming increase to the 310 cases reported in 2017. These attacks include the murder of five journalists and media workers in 2018 and 2019.

A group of journalists, including Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez founded FLIP in 1996 to address the dangers for the press in the country. During these 23 years, they have advocated for better conditions, monitored attacks and provided assistance to thousands of journalists. Their aid has included litigation at national level and before the Inter American human rights system.

Over the last year, FLIP has made an enormous contribution to combatting self-censorship in Colombia through their projects Liga Contra el Silencio, Pauta Visible and Frontera Cautiva. The jury at the Premios Simón Bolivar, aware of that work and of FLIP’s entire role throughout its 23 years of existence, awarded FLIP with a prize that is usually given to individual journalists.

W,e at Media Defence, feel proud of our partners and wish to congratulate them for this award. We are also sure that they will keep on doing impactful work in defending the press in Colombia.

Recent News

Mamunur Rashid Nomani charged with violating Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act

Journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani, editor of the local online news portal Barishal Khobor, has been charged with violating Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act (DSA), following an accusation claiming that he secretly filmed the mayor of Barisal and his family. Nomani rejects this, alleging instead that he and two of his acquaintances – Kamrul Mridha, working for […]

Read

Media Defence extends partnership with three organisations in sub-Saharan Africa

As part of Media Defence’s project Empowering Women in Digital Rights Advocacy, we are building a strong legal defence network in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this goal, we are providing financial assistance to organisations to establish legal aid units or media defence centres. We are excited to announce that, as part of this project, we are extending […]

Read

15 Years of Impact: Internet Shutdowns

This year marks Media Defence’s 15th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, we will be taking a look at the ways in which freedom of expression has been threatened around the world, and how we have sought to protect it. The internet has become an essential part of modern life. It has transformed the way we […]

Read