Hadi Abdullah, Syrian freelance journalist was awarded with ‘Reporters without Borders (RSF)-TV5 Monde prize’ on November 8, 2016 for reporting from some of the most hazardous places in Syria’s five years old war.
About Hadi Al Abdullah :
Hadi Al Abdullah (born on 8 May 1987) is a Syrian citizen journalist and activist who belongs to a lower-middle-class family. Presently, Al Abdullah is based in the Idlib Governorate in Syria and is a regular correspondent of television stations and a social media reporter.
- The 29 year old was nominated in journalist category and the award was presented in Strasbourg on behalf of the World Forum for Democracy, a meeting organized by the Council Of Europe.
- Abdullah without hesitating entered the danger zone to do his work despite being
abducted earlier by the Al-Nusra Front jihadist group and even faced situations of death. His cameraman was killed and he himself was seriously injured due to bomb explosion in the place where they were staying.
abducted earlier by the Al-Nusra Front jihadist group and even faced situations of death. His cameraman was killed and he himself was seriously injured due to bomb explosion in the place where they were staying.RSF-TV5 Monde prize
RSF-TV5 Monde prize is one of the world’s top press awards awarded by Reporters without Borders (RSF) and this is for the second time that the honour has gone to a Syrian. In 2015, Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim was awarded the same for her reports from the besieged city of Aleppo.
The press Watchdog also announced two other category of awards namely:
- Media category: it was awarded to 64Tianwang, which is a Chinese news website.
- Citizen journalist category: Lu Yuyu and Li Tingyu, Chinese citizen journalists.
RSF
Reporters Without Borders/ Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization with an aim of promoting and defending freedom of information and freedom of the press. The organization, has its head office in Paris, France
- Reporters without Borders deal with two basic activities:
- Firstly it focuses on Internet Censorship and the New Media and
- Secondly provides material, financial and psychological assistance to journalists assigned to dangerous areas.
- RSF ranked India at 133 out of 180 countries while China and Syria 176th and 177th on its assessment of 180 countries for press freedom.
Press Watchdog
Watchdog journalism deals with the task of informing the public about the ongoing activities in institutions and society, especially in cases where the public demand changes in response.
The role of a watchdog journalist :
- To supply the necessary information to the citizens,
- To prevent the abuse of power and
- To “warn citizens about those that are doing them harm”.
- Watchdog journalism can be located in a various news media, like radio, television, Internet, and print media where it appears as “a unique strength of newspapers”.