Umar Cheema gets prestigious award, Kerry praises his courage
WASHINGTON: Investigative journalist of The News, Umar Cheema has been honoured with the 2013 Knight International Journalism Award by ICFJ with US Secretary of State John Kerry praising Cheema for setting “new standards of courage in quality investigative reporting in Pakistan exposing corruption and abuse of power and taking great personal risk.”
Cheema was announced as winner of the award in June this year. The award was given at a dinner hosted by International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington’s a premier international media event.
In his statement on the occasion, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Umar set new standards of courage in quality investigative reporting in Pakistan exposing corruption and abuse of power and taking great personal risk.
The other winner of the 2013 Knight International Journalism Award was Roman Anin of Russia while Richard Engel of American NBC was also given the 2013 award for Excellence in International Reporting.
The Knight International Journalism Award recognises excellent reporting that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world. “Recipients of the Knight International Journalism Award are reporters, editors, technologists, media managers or citizen journalists who, despite difficult circumstances, produce pioneering news reports or innovations that make a significant impact in their countries.
The award, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reflects the mission of ICFJ’s Knight International Journalism Fellowships: to instil a culture of news innovation worldwide. The goal is to seed new ideas and services that deepen coverage, expand news delivery and engage citizens in the editorial process. The fellowship programme is supported by Knight Foundation, with additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” the icfj.org reads.
The ICFJ introduced Umar Cheema as a journalist who had set a new standard for courage and quality journalism in Pakistan, a country where reporters are routinely attacked and murdered.As a reporter for Pakistan’s largest English-language daily, The News, he has been a resolute force in investigative journalism for more than a decade.
In 2010, he was kidnapped and brutally tortured for writing critical stories about the government. Since then, undaunted, he has churned out a steady stream of hard-hitting reports. He documented how car smugglers rake in huge profits without paying taxes. He mined data to expose how top lawmakers spend little time in parliament working on legislation.
Two years ago, Cheema founded the Centre for Investigative Reporting in Pakistan. In its initial report, he analysed the tax records of 446 lawmakers and ministers. He discovered that nearly 70 percent of legislators did not file income taxes in 2011, including President Asif Ali Zardari. After his story ran, the government instituted rules forcing candidates in contested elections to submit tax returns and charged tax shirkers a penalty for past evasions.
Cheema has received numerous awards for his courage and reporting, including the 2011 International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2008, he won a Daniel Pearl Fellowship, becoming the first Pearl fellow to work at The New York Times.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication from Punjab University in Lahore. He also attended the London School of Economics where he received a Master of Sciences Degree in Comparative Politics (Conflict Studies).
” 
” 
” 
” 
