Brazil's National Association of Newspapers (ANJ in Portuguese) has announced that it will award the 2011 Press Freedom Prize to the Argentine newspaper Clarín, reported the news agency EFE.
“The newspaper Clarín is known for symbolizing the problems that the Argentine media have suffered for exercising independent journalism, given the pressures from the government," ANJ said on its website.
In the midst of a tense relationship with the government, the two largest newspaper in Argentina, Clarín and La Nación, have suffered on various occasions blockades preventing circulation of the newspapers. At the end of March, Clarín published a blank front page in protest of the blockades that prevented distribution.
“We understand that some Argentine newspapers, not just Clarín, have suffered from pressure by the Argentine government," said Ricardo Pedreira, ANJ executive director, as quoted by Estado de S. Paulo. “However, Clarín has a history of worse conflicts. That is why they are being awarded as a type of symbol."
Created in 2008, the ANJ award honors persons, newspapers and institutions that have promoted and defended press freedom. Previous awards have gone to Supreme Court justice Carlos Ayres Britto, Congressman Miro Teixeira, and the Inter American Press Association.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
