The Norwegian Fritt Ord Foundation and the ZEIT Stiftung Bucerius have named six laureates of the Free Media Award, including Georgian journalist and media founder Mzia Amaglobeli, the creator of Netgazeti and Batumelebi.
The organizers’ press release reads that this year’s awardees are: Gwara Media (Ukraine), Mzia Amaglobeli (Georgia), the investigative outlet Direkt36 (Hungary), photojournalist Alexandra Astakhova (Russia), the Belarus Investigative Center (Belarus), and journalist Nargiz Absalamova (Azerbaijan).
The award recognizes “six independent media outlets and journalists in Eastern and Central Europe for their heroic investigative journalism under extremely challenging conditions,” the statement says. It also notes that authoritarian regimes continue to tighten control in the region, with two of this year’s laureates recently sentenced to long prison terms for their work.
The foundations emphasize that Amaglobeli has become a symbol of independent journalism in Georgia, honored for her 25 years of commitment to journalistic integrity and ethics.
“In August, she was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a case considered politically motivated by human rights groups. In reality, she is being punished for exposing corrupt practices of the regime over many years. She is the first female journalist in Georgia to be jailed on politically motivated charges since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Earlier this year, she held a 38-day hunger strike against the authorities, leaving her in critical condition,” the statement reads.
