CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour has won the University of Arizona School of Journalism’s Zenger Award for Press Freedom, the school announced Tuesday.
Amanpour is known for her reporting on violence and human-rights abuse in Iraq, Bosnia and Syria. She started at CNN in 1983 and is now the network’s chief international anchor for its global-affairs program “Amanpour.”
“I’m proud to receive the Zenger award, named for a couple whose powerful partnership laid the foundation for press freedom in the nascent United States, a freedom that has been the envy of the world, and emulated with great sacrifice wherever possible,” Amanpour said in a news release from the school.
Amanpour will be introduced at a September reception by journalism professor Mort Rosenblum, who has worked with her in several countries.
“Since her insightful coverage of Desert Storm nearly three decades ago, Christiane has exemplified the gutsy, up-close reporting and thoughtful analysis that helps a wobbly world stay on course,” Rosenblum said in the release. “She shows how news is not about grand events but rather the real people behind them.”
The Zenger Award, named after John Peter and Catherine Anne Zenger, was started in 1954 by the UA’s journalism program. The award is dedicated to those who have made “extraordinary contributions to press freedom and the people’s right to know around the world,” the school says.
Amanpour will accept the award on Sept. 20 at the Marriott University Park Hotel. Tickets to the reception cost $100 each and are available for purchase at tucne.ws/16h3. Proceeds go toward student reporting projects and travel.
