Ukrainian journalist refuses prize for freedom of press due to joint nomination with a russian

The chair of the Institute of Mass Information, Oksana Romaniuk, refused the German prize for freedom of the press, as she was nominated with the russian Aleksei Venediktov. He received the award.

She wrote about it on Facebook.

The head of IMI said that the organizers of the Palm Foundation award wrote to her about the nomination back in the spring. However, they indicated that they nominated her with Venediktov because "Ukraine, russia, symbolism, both countries suffered."

Romaniuk reported that the presentation of the Johann Philipp Palm international prize for freedom of speech and freedom of the press took place on December 4.

The award went to the Association of Municipal Radio and Television Stations of the Congo (CORACON) and the former editor-in-chief of the radio station Echo of Moscow, Aleksei Venediktov.

During the presentation, Venediktov said he was "the first russian citizen to receive the award."

"And I probably became the first Ukrainian woman to refuse it," Romaniuk said.

The leader of IMI says that she cannot imagine how she could stand with Venediktov on the same stage.

"With an official Kremlin liberal, a political technologist who more than once promoted Kremlin propaganda, publicly called putin his 'only boss,' boasted of connections with [russian foreign minister] lavrov, [russian president's spokesman] peskov, and other officials," Romaniuk stressed.

Romaniuk also said that she was sure that the russian knew about her refusing the nomination, but despite this, he still accepted the award.

According to her, she has no complaints against the organizers because they are "very far from our realities."

"This is Western European Christian ethics and peacemakers: reach out to each other. We corresponded with them for a long time and continued to communicate.

It is not easy for them to go beyond the established picture of the world and understand what is happening here. But I know that I still managed to raise questions and internal discussions in them,"  the head of the Institute of Mass Information emphasized.

Reference

The International Johann Philipp Palm Prize for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press is awarded once every two years.

Its monetary equivalent is 20,000 euros.