2007年VOA标准英语-Democracy Advocacy Group Honors Three Journalis

By Tony Budny
Washington
21 September 2007
 

The non-governmental advocacy group National Endowment for Democracy earlier this week (September 18th) honored three international journalists and a press freedom organization for their efforts to spread free speech and decrease political control over media.  VOA's Tony Budny has the story.  

Kavi Chongkittavorn has been a journalist in Southeast Asia for more than 20 years, and he says he knows the importance of his job to the region. "Freedom of expression, even in Thailand, is not a sure thing. You have to constantly fight for it and kick to maintain it."

NED presented its annual Democracy Award to Chongkittavorn, Egyptian publisher Hisham Kasem the late Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, and the Venezuelan-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad [IPYS or Press and Society Institute].

Kasem published Al- Masry Al-Youm, The Egyptian Today, the country's first independent daily newspaper in 50 years.  He began publishing it in 2004.  He said that Egyptian state media had become so large it began to hurt the economy.  "You cannot continue to subsidize this while you have the unique phenomenon of the city of the dead, where people actually live in grave yards.  And you realize that the money going to sustain the state media could in one year take people out of a situation like the city of the dead or so many other things."

Ewald Scharfenberg represented the Venezuelan press organization IPYS.  It monitors threats and attacks on journalists.   Scharfenberg spoke¹ about the added need for diligence since Hugo Chavez became president. "Fifty-six percent of reporters surveyed were victims of aggression² and intimidation³ in the past 12 months.  The majority of incidents are attacks on the streets by Chavez supporters."

Russian journalist Elena Milashina was a friend and colleague of Politkovskaya and accepted the award on her behalf.  Politkoskaya died in 2006 after an unidentified gunman shot and killed her in her apartment building.

Democratic Party Congressman⁴ Tom Lantos praised  Politkovskaya's coverage⁵ of the conflict in Chechnya. "We are here to honor a true hero of democracy, human rights, free journalism⁶, and a lover of Russia, was cut down at a very young age because of her unbelievable courage and her willingness to put her life on the line."

Milishina said, in Russia, reporting has meaning beyond journalism. "It's not something brave, but in our country, telling the truth becomes one of the bravest things."

Each individual honored showed that even doing what may seem like a simple job can influence the lives of many.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

3 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。