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Semana recognized by COHA

I have to agree with the spirit of giving this award to Semana. They have taken a lot of risks in revealing dirty government information. Very strange how it is a Santos that is director of the publication.

http://www.coha.org/2009/04/coha-to-announce-charles-perlik-jr-award-f...
COHA to Announce Charles A. Perlik, Jr. Award for Semana Magazine

Tomorrow, COHA’s trustees and staff will be delighted to be formally announcing the inaugural conferring of the organization’s Charles A. Perlik, Jr. Award for Excellence in the Field of Print Journalism throughout the hemisphere. COHA honors itself by being able to announce that the Colombian news weekly Revista Semana has been selected as the first recipient of this honor, which is named after COHA’s venerated late chairman during the 1980s, who, throughout his life, and as president of the U.S. and Canadian Newspaper Guild, in addition to chairing COHA, worked tirelessly to promote press freedom throughout Latin America.

COHA has long admired the work of Semana’s journalists and editors, and has constantly found the publication to be unwavering in its refusal to bow to the at times corrupt and violent forces which often have plagued Colombian society over the decades. The COHA board’s decision to designate Semana as the initial successful entrant over scores of other estimable hemispheric publications, was influenced in particular by the magazine’s latest demonstration of its flawless integrity and impressive courage, which can be found in its exposé of the Colombian security service (DAS)’s illegal wiretapping practices in February of this year.

The full text of the Perlik certificate will be sent by COHA Director Larry Birns to the Director of Semana, Alejandro Santos, after it is published over COHA’s email wire tomorrow, and the magazine will formally announce its conferrence to its readership in the Sunday, May 3 edition of the publication.

By romy on May 1, 2009, 17:39 in Friendly Talkzone.

romy says on May 1, 2009, 17:40:

From 'An Open Letter to Alejandro Santos, Director of Semana Magazine of Bogotá, Colombia'
http://www.coha.org/2009/05/an-open-letter-to-alejandro-santos-directo...

Conferring the Perlik Award on Revista Semana

Lesser media organizations around the world repeatedly have yielded to the demands and exigencies of corrupt and brutal regimes that routinely prohibit the truth from being shared with the public. In the tradition of the late Charles A. Perlik, Jr., along with the strongly held tenets of our organization and its staff, we recognize and praise the commitment made by courageous media organizations around the world who have chosen to promote democratic rule, meaningful patriotism, social justice and constructive engagement. These, we believe, are the qualities that distinguish the journalists and principles of Semana.

As an example, COHA commends your publication for its recent exposure of the fraudulent acts carried out by the Administrative Department of Security of Colombia (DAS) in cooperation with an array of flawed public and private figures. Through this brilliant example of investigative journalism (one of many), Semana has managed to expose the increasing vulnerability of democracy in Colombia by revealing the harassment to which journalists, members of the opposition, and some members of the Criminal Justice System are exposed. This worthy and eminent publication was equally resolute when, after the truth about DAS’ telephone wire-tapping malfeasance had been exposed, it insisted on revealing the full import of the scandal. Semana’s resilience in the face of attacks launched by senior officials of the current Colombian government, and your adherence to the revered canon of withholding the names of sources that provided you with the valuable information that you then distributed to the public should be commended.

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makopp5 (☼Travelguide writer) says on May 1, 2009, 17:53:

Why all the time to be so negative. This shows, that the demograthy in Colombia is working quiet well.

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