Pilar Bonet received yesterday the ‘Francisco Cerecedo’ Journalism Award in a ceremony attended by the King and Queen of Spain. The jury agreed to award the prize to the Ibizan journalist, specialized in the post-soviet space, “for the rigor of her information, her ability to cover an immense territory full of complexities and her will to understand what was happening to its inhabitants when they suffered different cataclysms: the communist project, its resounding crisis, the dramatic challenge of facing a new economic model and the emergence of a new autocratic leader who dynamited all democratization and tried to reinvent the old empire. “Her work has been a great help in understanding the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine“, they underline.
In her acceptance speech, Pilar Bonet pointed out that “the European Union has opened its doors to Ukrainians seeking refuge, but those doors should also be opened to Russians who by conviction refuse to participate in this vile war and we should seek a common mechanism to identify those who arrive at any of our borders, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean”. The Ibizan also had words of admiration and gratitude for her colleagues in Russia “who work discreetly in harsh and dangerous conditions without being intimidated or bought, to colleagues who seek the right words to move along the tightrope without being victims of censorship or fall into banality, as well as to those who “risk their lives, especially today in Ukraine, and report to us from the trenches, the field hospitals, the bombed houses and the homes of starving and terrified citizens”.
One of the best journalists
For his part, the president of the Association of European Journalists (APE), Diego Carcedo, pointed out in his speech that “Pilar knew how to overcome obstacles and suffer hardships to assert herself as one of the best correspondents and keep us abreast of Russian developments since the fall of the Soviet Union until this war of aggression against Ukraine that has us so worried. Despite being in the profession for so many decades, Pilar lives up to the idea that journalists never retire – simply because the news never runs out – and that is why she continues to write excellent analyses on the situation of the Ukrainians or President Putin’s medieval ambition to regain his empire.
The jury that awarded Pilar Bonet the prestigious prize, which is celebrating its 39th year, was chaired by journalist Fernando Ónega and integrated by Íñigo Alfonso, director of ‘Las mañanas de RNE’; Rubén Amón, collaborator of Onda Cero and El Confidencial; Ángeles Blanco, editor and presenter of Tele 5’s weekend news; Diego Carcedo, president of the APE; Montserrat Domínguez, director of contents of Cadena Ser; Javier Fernández Arribas, director of Atalayar; Marta García Aller, columnist for El Confidencial; Javier García Vila, director of Europa Press; Xavier Mas de Xaxàs, diplomatic correspondent for La Vanguardia; Rafael Panadero, journalist for Cadena Ser; Gemma Robles, director of El Periódico de España; José Andrés Rojo, deputy opinion editor of El País; Karina Sainz Borgo, ABC journalist; Encarna Samitier, director of 20 Minutos; Paul Tobin, BBVA Dircom; and Agustín Valladolid, director of institutional relations of Voz populi.
This award is granted by the Association of European Journalists (APE) in order to highlight those careers that deserve this honor for their talent, originality, ability to transgress the pressures and influences of the powers that be and to promote freedom of expression. The winners in the last 10 years have been Michael Ignatieff (2012); Xavier Vidal-Folch (2013); José Antonio Zarzalejos (2014); Félix de Azúa (2015); Claudio Magris (2016); Florencio Domínguez (2017); Rubén Amón (2018); Javier Cercas (2019); Vicente Vallés (2020); and Anne Applebaum (2021).
The prize, sponsored by BBVA, awards twenty-four thousand euros and a bronze medal molded by Julio López Hernández.
The King: “Pilar is an example of constancy and lucidity”
Felipe VI vindicated the practice of journalism based on the ability to listen, teach and impartiality to maintain civil liberties that “need constant protection to prevent their erosion”, at the gala presentation to Pilar Bonet of the XXXIX celebration of the Journalism Award “Francisco Cerecedo”, held last night at The Westin Palace hotel in Madrid.
The King also praised the work of the award-winning journalist for her “rigor, attention and understanding” at a time, he said, characterized by the “overabundance of information and the complete transformation of the ways in which people access, consume and share news”. In this sense, he emphasized that the story of the Ibizan journalist is not conventional as it is specialized in the USSR, Russia and the post-soviet space, a topic that “is currently the focus of a lot of media attention”.
“Pilar is an example of perseverance and lucid dedication to the demands of journalism, understood as a public service. Her latest chronicles bring us closer to the conflict in Ukraine, which she has been reporting on exhaustively from the beginning”, the King emphasized. At this point he emphasized that the self-serving use of information “goes beyond war scenarios” to become a “broader threat that affects societies in general and journalists in particular”.
Finally, he took the opportunity to thank journalists who understand their profession as a “fundamental role” in the maintenance of civil liberties and as a public service that seeks the truth and is based on the rigor of investigations, the contrast of sources and impartiality. e.press. madrid
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.