Global Voices wins Anvil of Freedom award

Global Voices Online, a site started at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society with the support of Reuters and for which I’m the Caucasus Regional Editor, was this month honored with the Anvil of Freedom award from Denver University. The site is in its fourth year of operation and seeks to “aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore.”

DU’s Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media honored Global Voices Online with the University of Denver’s 2009 Anvil of Freedom Award at the center’s "Globally Speaking" conference Feb. 5.

"This is the first time we have recognized an organization," said Lynn Schofield Clark, director of the Estlow Center. Instead of honoring an individual, Clark said that the award goes to the "news editors, language editors and subject editors who work around the clock and in various regions around the world."

Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman accepted the award on the organization’s behalf. He says he and his colleagues felt passionate about creating a global newsroom because traditional media was not covering stories in much of the world.

"We were reading fewer and fewer newspapers and more and more blogs," Zuckerman said. "We work with bridge bloggers to look for the stories that are coming out of blogospheres in different countries and make it accessible to people on one site."

Zuckerman urged the audience of nearly 180 people to be aware of freedom of speech issues, especially in countries like China that restrain access to tools like Blogger, Twitter or Flicker. He also urged attendees to hear voices from across the globe.

"It’s the silence that we allow to happen," he said. "We have enormous responsibility as readers and citizens to try and make sure that we are listening to voices from every corner of the world."

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"I’m deeply, deeply honored by this award," Zuckerman said. "One of the things that is so exciting being here is that the University takes really seriously this idea of what it means to be global citizens and what it takes to succeed in a global world."

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Links to other reports on the award can be found on Global Voices Online contributer Vilhelm Konnander’s blog on politics and security in Central and Eastern Russia. Congratulations to all.