John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger Award for Press Freedom Dinner
November 1, 2024
Presented by the University of Arizona
School of Journalism
Welcome
Greetings,
Thank you for joining us this evening at the Zenger Award for Press Freedom Dinner, hosted by the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
It is with great honor that we present this prestigious award, which has, since 1954, celebrated steadfast champions of a free press and the fundamental right of the public to be informed.
Tonight, we pay tribute to the remarkable Lyse Doucet, chief international correspondent for the BBC, whose distinguished career spans four decades across West Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Doucet has demonstrated unwavering courage in her reporting
on the most pressing global issues, including war, famine, drought, and the plight of refugees—all from regions often hostile to journalistic freedom. Her exemplary work has garnered significant accolades, including a Peabody Award for her groundbreaking coverage of maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan and an Emmy Award for her compelling reports on the conflict in Syria during the tumultuous Arab Spring.
Through her storytelling, Doucet illuminates the lived experiences of individuals, reminding us of the profound impact of journalism on society. In her own words, as she shared with The Guardian in 2015, "I'm a big believer in the small story telling the big story."
Her dedication echoes the legacy of colonial printer John Peter Zenger, who, in 1735, faced imprisonment for daring to criticize the British governor. During his incarceration, his wife, Anna Catherine Zenger, admirably took up the mantle of publishing their newspaper, exemplifying resilience in the face of adversity.
In the face of numerous challenges, journalism is guided by figures like Lyse Doucet, who illuminate the path toward enlightenment and empower individuals with essential information to improve their lives and advocate for their freedoms.
As the University of Arizona School of Journalism strives to train the next generation of journalists, we are honored to present them with an inspiring example of exceptional journalism.
Thank you and gracias,
Dr. Jessica Retis Director, School of Journalism
Program
DINNER
OPENING REMARKS
Emcee Fernanda Echavarri
Chris Kline, CEO of Arizona Media Association and Arizona Local News Foundation
Dr. Jessica Retis, Director of the School of Journalism
PRESENTATION OF ZENGER AWARD
Dr. Jane Zavisca, Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
ACCEPTANCE REMARKS
Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent, BBC
DESSERT
QUESTION-AND-ANSWER
Lyse Doucet and Dr. Monica Chadha, Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor, School of Journalism
CLOSING REMARKS
Emcee Fernanda Echavarri
Meet the emcee
Fernanda Echavarri is an award-winning bilingual journalist and a senior producer of podcasts at Futuro Studios based in New York City. She has received a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, a National Edward R. Murrow Award, a Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, a Regional Emmy Award, and has been a Peabody Award finalist.
She has worked for local newspapers, Arizona Public Media, Latino USA, and Mother Jones Magazine.
Fernanda is a native of Queretaro, Mexico, and graduated from the School of Journalism in 2007.
A Special Thanks To:
Title Sponsor
Corporate Sponsors
About the School of Journalism
The University of Arizona journalism program, founded in 1951 and nationally accredited since 1964, offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and studies of global media, as well as an M.A. in bilingual journalism.
We are one of few programs in the country to offer dual master’s degrees in Latin American Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies and other disciplines. In addition to a strong focus on border and global journalism, the school also excels in science and environmental journalism, and visual and audio reporting.
The school teaches reporting fundamentals that can help graduates in their career, whether it be in print, broadcast or digital arenas. Students learn to gather information then critically analyze and effectively communicate that information accurately and ethically in any format.
The school requires every student to take courses in ethics, public affairs reporting and media publication. Classes are also small, allowing students to get to know their professors and effectively practice the skills they are learning.
Faculty members and adjunct instructors have professional experience in local, national and international outlets, including the New York Times, BBC World Service and NPR.
Our graduates have gone to work for major news media outlets ranging from The Associated Press and The New York Times to CNN International and NBC’s TODAY show; they have won major awards in the profession, including Pulitzer Prizes and Edward R. Murrow Awards; they have written and produced stories that have changed state and national laws and policies; and they continue to serve communities across the country as reporters, producer, editors and more.
2024 Zenger Award for Press Freedom
Lyse Doucet
BBC News
Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s award-winning chief international correspondent and a presenter for BBC World News and BBC World Service. She began her career with the BBC as a foreign correspondent in 1983, reporting from North and West Africa, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and other areas of South Asia and the Middle East.
Since joining BBC’s team of presenters in 1999, Doucet has often been deployed to give special reports from the field and has covered numerous humanitarian crises, natural disasters, famines, wars and the assassinations of world leaders.
In 2014, Doucet and her team won an Emmy award for their reporting from Syria. That same year, she was awarded the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contributions to broadcast journalism. During an admirable 40-year career, she has also received a Peabody, a David Bloom Award, a Bayeux CalvadosNormandy Award, a Sony Radio Academy Award and an Edward R. Murrow award, among other honors.
Born in New Brunswick, Doucet was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2018 and has been awarded honorary degrees by more than a dozen universities in Canada and the United Kingdom, including two honorary doctorates conferred earlier this year.
“For decades Doucet has done an exceptional job reporting from all over the world, obtaining prestigious recognitions for her contributions to journalism,” School of Journalism Director Jessica Retis said. “Her inclusive and diverse perspective on news coverage inspired the journalism school to choose her as recipient of the Zenger Award.”
Still taken from a video shared with the School of Journalism by Doucet in Israel in October 2023.
Zenger Award History
In the early 1730s, John Peter Zenger printed articles critical of the governor of New York in The New-York Weekly Journal, America's first independent political newspaper. Zenger didn't write the stories, but as printer, he was sued by the governor. While he sat in jail, saddled with an outrageously high bail, his wife, Anna Catherine, continued printing the newspaper.
John Peter Zenger
The 1734 bench warrant for Zenger's arrest charged him with "printing and publishing several seditious libels dispersed throughout his journals or newspapers, entitled The New-York Weekly Journal; as having in them many things tending to raise factions and tumults among the people of this Province, inflaming their minds with contempt of His Majesty's government, and greatly disturbing the peace thereof."
Philadelphia attorney Andrew Hamilton defended Zenger, arguing that the published statements could not be libelous if they were true. At the time, English law was designed to protect government from critical elements and held that truth was not a defense to libel. The jury disagreed, exonerating Zenger and establishing an ongoing central tenet to defamation law: that truth is an absolute defense. The decision redefined libel and slander law and laid the foundation for today's freedom of the press.
In 1954, the University of Arizona journalism program's first department head, Douglas D. Martin, developed a plan to create the Zenger Award and give it to a journalist who fought for freedom of the press and the people's right to know. Seventy years later, the School of Journalism stands behind Martin's commitment, and we are still firm in the belief that a free press is vital if democracy is to thrive.
Information for this article came from the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York.
Past Winners
2022 - Yamiche Alcindor
2021 - Committee to Protect Journalists
2019 - Christiane Amanpour
2018 - Carmen Aristegui
2017 - Dean Baquet
2016 - Dana Priest
2015 - Kathy Gannon
2014 - Paul Steiger
2013 - Jonathan Randal
2012 - Rocio Gallegos
|| Rodriguez and Sandra
|| Rodriguez Nieto
2009 - Tom Arviso Jr.
2007 - Jerry Mitchell
2005 - Bill Moyers
2003 - Vanessa Leggett
2001 - Lou Boccardi and The
“ Associated Press
2000 - Paul K. McMasters
1998 - U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy
1997 - Mark Goodman
1996 - Nat Hentoff
1995 - Ben Bagdikian
1994 - Investigative Reporters & {{ Editors
1993 - Jane E. Kirtley
1992 - Helen Thomas
1991 - Peter Arnett
1990 - Terry A. Anderson
1989 - Robert C. Maynard
1988 - Jean H. Otto
1987 - Eugene L. Roberts Jr.
1986 - John R. Finnegan
1985 - Thomas Winship
1984 - Tom Wicker
1982 - Fred W. Friendly
1981 - Paul S. Cousley
1980 - Walter Cronkite
1979 - Jack C. Landau
1978 - Robert H. Estabrook
1977 - Robert W. Greene
1976 - Donald E. Bolles
1975 - Seymour M. Hersh
1974 - Thomas E. Gish
1973 - Katharine Graham
1972 - Dan Hicks Jr.
1971 - The New York Times
1970 - Erwin D. Canham
1969 - J. Edward Murray
1968 - Wes Gallagher
1967 - John S. Knight
1966 - Arthur Krock
1964 - John Netherland Heiskell
1963 - James B. Reston
1962 - John H. Colburn
1961 - Clark R. Mollenhoff
1960 - Virgil M. Newton
1959 - Herbert Brucker
1958 - John Moss
1957 - James R. Wiggins
1956 - James S. Pope
1955 - Basil L. Walters
1954 - E. Palmer Hoyt
Note: Some years, the award was not given.
A new look
The University of Arizona School of Journalism is excited to share ArizonaSonoranNews.com with our community and supporters. Launched last spring, the website features and shares reporting by student journalists.
The new AZSN site is the latest evolution of the school’s student-produced community news service started in 1973. AZSN provides local and national news organizations access to browse and republish news stories, photos, audio projects and other work produced by students in their journalism classes.
As ASZN grows, the school plans to add student leadership roles, incorporate broadcast packages and expand the reach of student reporting.
To support those efforts, visitors can donate to Arizona Sonoran News to help with the cost of running the website. The option to donate is included at the bottom of each story.
Arizona Sonoran News is currently taught by longtime adjunct instructor and Arizona Daily Star reporter Cathy Burch.
ArizonaSonoranNews.com was made possible by a generous donation from School of Journalism Associate Professor Susan E. Swanberg in honor of her late husband, Richard Wood. See student work here!
The School of Journalism
Josh Anderson
Kendal Blust
Monica Chadha
Jordan Chin
Mitra Christian
Kelly Copley
Fred Brock
Cathalena Burch
Shannon Conner
Jasmine Demers
Faculty
Zicheng Cheng
Jeannine Relly
Jessica Retis
Susan Swanberg
Rick Wiley
Staff
Vanessa DeCardenas
Meredith Edwards
Anna Marie Garcia
Adjunct Instructors
Joanna Jacobo
Mandy Loader
Patty Machelor
Tyler McCusker
Jesse Tellez
Maggie Trinkle
Becky Pallack
Ralph Robinson
Caitlin Schmidt
Robin Tricoles
Alexander Gonzalez
Irene McKisson
Journalism Advisory Council
The School of Journalism extends its appreciation to the members of the Journalism Advisory Council:
Joe Altman ('99)
Jo Marie Barkley ('86)
Cathie Batbie-Loucks
David Bodney
Jim Calle ('85, Vice Chair)
Valerie Cavazos ('91)
Michael Chihak ('71, Chair)
Mariana Dale ('14)
John D’Anna ('83)
Scott Harelson ('84)
Kimberly Kayler ('94)
Chris Kline
Pila Martinez ('96)
David McCumber
Dan Mitchell ('04)
Nate Olivarez-Giles ('08)
Nicole Santa Cruz ('09)
Caitlin Schmidt ('14)
David Silver
Mark Woodhams
Thank you!
This evening would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors and all who attended.
Title Sponsor
Corporate Sponsors
Table Sponsors
Arizona Luminaria
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Jim Calle
Tucson Sentinel
Tucson Spotlight
Stay connected with us on social media!
@uazjschool
Support student work and scholarships with a donation!