Zimbabwean Journalist Earns Free Speech Award

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Feb. 3, 2009 -- He was arrested for journalism.

In Zimbabwe, Frank Chikowore sat in an overcrowded jail cell where feces flowed on the floor. He was denied access to his lawyers, his relatives, and even to food. He knows what it is like when government officials in a country that limits freedom of the press are not happy about the stories he writes.

"Upcoming journalists must try to promote the freedom of the press," Chikowore urged students, many of them aspiring journalists, at Syracuse University last week. "We must be courageous enough because if we bow down to submission, who will say it?"

Chikowore is a freelance journalist in Zimbabwe, a nation in southern Africa where the internationally infamous regime of President Robert Mugabe has sharply limited the freedom of the press.

For example, in 2002, Zimbabwean authorities closed down four newspapers after the government passed a law forcing journalists to acquire expensive registration papers from the government. Just three years after the law passed, the government shut down the "Weekly Times" where Chikowore worked as a senior reporter. He now maintains a blog that provides articles and information on Zimbabwean politics.

Last week, Chikowore was on the campus of Syracuse University to receive a 2009 Tully Center Free Speech Award. Barry Bearak, a reporter for The New York Times who works in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the other recipient of the 2009 award. Bearak was not able to attend. The award, which carries a $2,000 prize and covers travel expenses, is given annually to people whose work represents the importance of free speech.

The center, which works closely with the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, paid for Chikowore to visit Washington, D.C., where he will take in political sites and the new Newseum.

Chikowore drew a packed house. Students, faculty, and guests sat on the stairwell, on the floor, and stood in the doorway of a packed Syracuse University auditorium to hear him speak. Chikowore told the audience harrowing stories about his personal experiences, stressed the importance of forcing a change in laws to regain freedom of speech, and called student journalists to action.