The founder of ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ is a benchmark for the best journalism and the fight for democracy and against populism
Polish journalist Adam Michnik (Warsaw, age 75), a global benchmark for good journalism and a shining beacon in the fight for freedom of expression and democracy, is the winner of the Princess of Asturias Award 2022 for Communication and Humanities. active dissident of communism, “for his commitment to quality journalism” and “for his influence in the restoration and defense of democracy in Poland”. Endowed with fifty thousand euros and awarded by the Princess of Asturias Foundation, the prize announced its XLII edition on Wednesday.
“His conception of Europe has helped to establish democratic values in his country and today he is a symbol of freedom of expression and humanism, as well as an ethical example of resistance to authoritarian threats,” the jury emphasized. He recalled the statement as “his fight for human rights and dialogue” led him to the prisons of the Polish communist regime, “but that did not mean he gave up his strong resistance to the dictatorship or sought reconciliation among his fellow citizens.”
In addition to being an extraordinary journalist, Michnik is one of the most prominent defenders of human rights in Poland and is considered a fundamental pillar in the restoration of democracy in his country. Lech Walesa’s fellow traveler in the ‘Solidarity’ union, he was a staunch supporter of his country’s accession to the European Union. Since 2000, he has been on the International Press Institute’s (IPI) list of the 50 heroes of press freedom and is a member of the Board Emeritus of Reporters Without Borders.
Michnik, who spent six years in the prisons of the Polish communist regime, was one of the proponents of national reconciliation, taking as an example the Spanish model of the Moncloa pacts. In 2018, he was one of the thirty intellectuals who signed the manifesto Europe in Flames, on the threat of populism. A good expert on Russian politics, he has closely followed the invasion of Ukraine, which he has condemned in several articles, and has been highly critical of Vladimir Putin’s decisions and actions.
Her candidacy, presented by Krzysztof Wielicki, Princess of Asturias Award for Sports 2018, was supported, among others, by Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize in Literature 2018. She eventually won one of 40 candidates of 16 nationalities aspiring for the prestigious distinction.
Born on October 17, 1946 in Warsaw, Michnik studied history at the University of the Polish capital, where he was expelled in 1968 for participating in protests. In 1975 he graduated with a degree in history from the University of Poznan. He was imprisoned several times since the 1960s, was one of the founders of the KOR movement (the workers’ defense committee) and a member of the ‘Solidarity’ trade union since its foundation in 1980. Since 1977, he has been an editor for several independent magazines and was part of the management of ‘Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza’, one of the leading Polish opposition publishers.
In the so-called “revolutionary year” of 1989, three years after his last prison stay, he was elected a deputy to the first non-Communist lower house in Poland. That same year he founded the independent newspaper ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’, of which he is still the editor-in-chief and which today is one of the most widely circulated daily newspapers in Central Europe. From its pages, it has always championed the dialogue between the most diverse cultures, races, ideologies, societies and ethnic groups.
Brilliant interviewer and columnist, his signature is common in European media such as ‘Der Spiegel’, ‘Le Monde’ or ‘Liberation’, and the American ‘The Washington Post’ and ‘The New York Review of Books’.
In 2011, he received the Goethe Medal from the German Institute; in 2015, with the Freedom Prize of the Lithuanian Parliament. In Spain, he received the Ortega y Gasset Prize for Journalism in 2016. Italy awarded him the Primo Levi International Prize in 2018 and this year he received Gilel Storch, from the Swedish organization promoting Jewish culture, Judisk Kultur.
The Princess of Asturias Communication and Humanities is awarded for “the work of cultivating and perfecting the sciences and disciplines considered humanistic activities and associated with the media in all its manifestations.”
Víctor García de la Concha, former director of the RAE and the Cervantes Institute, chaired the jury that awarded Michnick and consisted of Alberto Anaut, Luis María Anson, Gabriela Cañas, Adela Cortina, Estrella de Diego, Miguel Falomir, Taciana Fisac, Santiago González , Álex Grijelmo, Miguel Ángel Liso, Helena López de Hierro, Enrique Pascual, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, Carmen Riera, Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente and María Sefidari Huici.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
