The Committee to Protect Journalists today announced that Fusion’s Jorge Ramos will be honored at the 2014 International Press Freedom Awards. He will be recognized with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in the cause of press freedom. Ramos currently anchors “AMERICA with Jorge Ramos” in English on Fusion as well as Univision’s evening newscast “Noticiero Univision” and Sunday public affairs program “Al Punto” in Spanish.
The other 2014 awardees include Burmese journalist Aung Zaw, founder and editor-in-chief of The Irrawaddy, which was branded an “enemy of the state” by the former military regime and still comes under pressure from the current Burmese government; Siamak Ghaderi, Iranian freelance journalist and former editor and reporter for the Islamic Republic’s official news agency IRNA, who was released in July after spending four years in prison; Mikhail Zygar, editor-in-chief for the Russian independent TV channel Dozhd, which provides a rare alternative to Kremlin-controlled federal stations; and Ferial Haffajee, editor-in-chief of City Press in South Africa, who has faced fierce criticism and threats of violence against herself and her staff for critical stories published under her leadership.
All of the winners will be honored at CPJ’s annual award and benefit dinner in New York City on November 25, 2014. Christiane Amanpour, anchor and chief international correspondent for CNN and a CPJ board member, will host the event. Alberto Ibargüen, president of the Knight Foundation, is the dinner chairman.
Jorge Ramos is one of the most highly respected journalists in the United States and Latin American. He has covered five wars and has reported many of the most important news stories of the last two decades, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Hurricane Katrina. He has also covered numerous international summits, guerrilla movements in Chiapas and Central America, elections throughout Central and South America, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and many other highly relevant events. Ramos has interviewed some of the world’s most influential political leaders and writers of the 21st century.
He is the author of elven books and bestsellers and writes a weekly column for more than 40 newspapers in the United States and Latin America distributed by The New York Times Syndicate. He also provides commentary for three daily radio shows for the Univision Radio network and collaborates with www.Univision.com. In addition, Ramos has been instrumental in promoting literacy among Latinos; in 2002, he created “Despierta Leyendo” (Wake Up Reading), the first book club in the history of Hispanic television.
Ramos has received eight Emmy Awards for excellence in journalism, in addition to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Lifetime Achievement Award, which was bestowed upon him in 2012. That same year, Ramos also won the John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, as well as the Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence, given by the National Press Foundation. In 2011, the Club de Periodistas de México (Journalists’ Club of Mexico) gave him the Premio Internacional de Periodismo (International Journalism Award) for his interviews with the Mexican presidential candidates, and in 2008, the Commonwealth Club of California recognized him with the Distinguished Citizen Award for being one of the outstanding individuals who embody the American Dream as an immigrant to the United States. In 2004, Ramos was honored with the Chairman’s Humanitarian Award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute for the promotion of Latino issues, as well as with the American Association of Publishers’ Honors Award. In 2003, he was awarded the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Communication. Ramos was also honored in 2002 with the Ruben Salazar Award by the National Council of La Raza for his positive portrayal of Latinos. In 2001, he received the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot Journalism Award from Columbia University.
Ramos has been called “Star newscaster of Hispanic TV” and “Hispanic TV’s No. 1 correspondent and key to a huge voting bloc” by The Wall Street Journal. Time magazine included him in the list of “the 25 most influential Hispanics in the United States” and Newsweek in its list of 50 political and media figures. A survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Ramos is the second most recognized Latino leader in the country. Latino Leaders magazine chose him as one of “The Ten Most Admired Latinos” and “101 Top Leaders of the Latino Community in the U.S.”
Ramos holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies from the University of Miami and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Ibero-American University in Mexico City. He also completed a post-graduate course in broadcast journalism at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2007, the University of Richmond awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree.