The war on Gaza was the focus of the American Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism and Literature yesterday, Monday, and the New York Times won three awards for its coverage, which the award committee described as “extensive” of the war, but it excluded its report on the alleged allegations of sexual violence in the attack of last October 7 from the list. Her stories are submitted for awards.
The newspaper excluded the sexual violence report from the list of reports submitted in the international reporting category that won the award, which it published last December regarding accusations against Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) fighters of committing sexual violence against women during the Al-Aqsa flood, and presented it in another category, but it He didn’t win.
After the New York Times published the report, it became clear that it was based on false allegations about the stories of 3 alleged victims of sexual assault, whose names the report did not mention, but the information it provided about their lives made it possible to identify them.
The family of one of the girls rejected the newspaper’s allegations of sexual violence, while the other two victims were teenage sisters. Their family confirmed that they died as a result of being shot directly during the attack without being subjected to any sexual violence.
Other prizes
In other awards that focused on Gaza, Reuters News Agency won the Breaking News Photography Award for its coverage, which the award committee described as “immediate,” of the course of the war.
Among the winning Reuters photo collection was the photo taken by photographer Muhammad Salem of a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her young niece in a white shroud following her killing in an Israeli raid on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Pulitzer Committee – a body of Columbia University – noted the importance of the work that journalists provide to cover the war despite the risks, and expressed its regret for the loss of the lives of a number of journalists, writers, and poets as a result of the continuing raids.
In addition to the awards, the Pulitzer Board issued a statement honoring student journalists who cover protests on American universities at great personal and academic risk, according to the Prize Board.
The Prize Board praised the press reports submitted by students at Columbia University – home of the Pulitzer Prizes – where the New York Police Department was called to the campus on April 18 to arrest students supporting Palestine.
The council stated in the statement that the students worked in a journalistic spirit to document a major news event under difficult and dangerous circumstances and the risk of being arrested.
It is noteworthy that the Pulitzer Prizes, which were first presented in 1917, are considered the most prestigious awards in American journalism.
