WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange receives the “Günter Wallraff Prize” at an event hosted by Deutschlandfunk in Cologne. The prize was awarded to his wife Stella Assange during the 6th Cologne Forum for Journalism Criticism. It honors critical journalism and civil courage on behalf of Günter Wallraff, Germany’s best-known investigative journalist.
Deutschlandfunk editor-in-chief Birgit Wentzien made a clear statement: “Putting grievances public is a core task of journalism. That is exactly what Julian Assange did. He has published documents leaked to him by his sources. Should Julian Assange be convicted for this, it would set a global precedent and act as a deterrent to reporters around the world. ‘Julian Assange affects us all’”.
Wallraff praised Assange for his tenacity as a journalist, who through his tenacity opened up a new world and was the type of a new person
“Julian’s trial is political and publicity is critical to how it will end. The prosecution is designed to silence Julian, remove him from public consciousness – and with him all the deaths of the tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan that he has exposed,” Stella said.
Further information, the detailed program and the live stream can be found at www.deutschlandfunk.de/journalismuskritik
The Forum for Criticism of Journalism is an event organized by the Deutschlandfunk newsroom and the News Enlightenment Initiative (INA), co-organized this year by the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences.
Read Stella Assange’s recent interview about the award in German: „Die Rolle Deutschlands ist für den Fall Julian Assange entscheidend“