Each year, the DIG Board gives the Watchdog Award to the journalism project, or individuals, who have distinguished themselves in upholding the values of journalism and keeping its mission alive.
In 2024, this award was given to the Press House - Palestine and to all Palestinian journalists.
The Dig Board was unanimous in this decision and was moved, along with the audience, during the award ceremony when Hekmat Youssef, a member of the Board of Directors of the Press House, was able to connect from Gaza.
During his acceptance speech for the award, Hekmat Youssef said that journalism 'has never been just a transmission of news or a narration of facts, but rather is the pulse of society, the voice of the oppressed and a mirror of reality with all its contradictions and hopes'.
"What the journalists in Gaza are experiencing," he added, "is not only a professional challenge, but a daily struggle for survival in the face of constant danger, and a constant conflict between fulfilling their duty and conveying the truth, and the dangers that surround them from all directions".
The Watchdog Award was received on behalf of the Palestinian Press House and Palestinian journalists by my colleague Safwat Kahlout, news producer of Al Jazeera. Kahlout stated in his speech that: "Gaza journalists are angry with their international colleagues because they have failed to pressure their governments to provide protection for their Palestinian colleagues". For too many months, journalists in Gaza have been slaughtered on a daily basis without them doing anything, he added, while emphasising the urgency of putting pressure on governments to help, support and protect Palestinian journalists.
To assign the DIG Watchdog Award were Italian journalist Laura Silvia Battaglia and Philip Di Salvo, from the DIG Board.
This was the motivation for the award communicated by the DIG Board:
"Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. In the past 12 months, the Israeli army has injured 190 journalists, arrested 51 and killed 165, according to the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate. As the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated on 30 January 2024, 'Israel's war in Gaza is more deadly for journalists than any previous war'. The causes of this fury are clear: without the words, memories, images and voices of these journalists, the world would not have seen the extent of the destruction and violence inflicted on Gaza. It is thanks to the heroism and courage of these journalists that we can see the extent of Israel's destruction in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is why we have decided to award the Watchdog prize to Palestinian journalists in Gaza and to Press House in Gaza, an independent, non-profit Palestinian media institution founded in January 2013 and deliberately targeted several times during the war. The award is our sign of solidarity with the courage of Palestinian journalists, a solidarity that would be meaningless without the call for an immediate ceasefire and the demand for our countries to immediately stop sending arms to Israel."
Below is the video contribution sent directly from Gaza by Hekmat Youssef, representing Press House - Palestine and Palestinian reporters in Gaza:
