Freedom Of The Press Award 2009

The ACE Freedom of the Press award, continues to recognise and reward the bravery of many of our editorial colleagues and publications in bringing to us coverage of events from difficult and treacherous places around the world.

It is easy on occasions to take for granted a free press. We may, on occasion rail against the content and bias of our press reporting, but we should remember that the freedom enjoyed by our journalists is undreamt of in many countries.

The ACE Freedom of the Press Award acknowledges and rewards all of these brave individuals and publications.

This year’s winner is: Al Ayyam Newspaper

“The Al Ayyam newspaper has shown enormous commitment and bravery by covering sensitive stories despite paying a high price for being out spoken in Yemen, one of the World’s most closed countries.”

Created in 1958, Al-Ayyam is one of Yemen’s leading dailies. It has no political affiliation but, with headquarters in the southern city of Aden, it acts as a mouthpiece of the inhabitants of the poor southern provinces and has provided extensive coverage of the social unrest in the south in recent months.

ACE would like to thank, as always, Reporters without Borders for their assistance with this award and to thank NMPP for their generous support in sponsoring this award.