Reuters wins Pulitzers for Rohingya photography

International Desk: Reuters won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for international reporting and photography while the New York Times and Washington Post shared honors for exposing sexual harassment in America and detailing the U.S. investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

The Pulitzers, the most prestigious awards in American journalism, recognized Reuters in international reporting for exposing the methods of police killing squads in Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, and for feature photography documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

“In a year in which many Pulitzers were rightly devoted to U.S. domestic matters, we’re proud at Reuters to shine a light on global issues of profound concern and importance,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said.

It was the first time Reuters has won two prizes in one year.



In the Philippines coverage, Reuters reporters Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato “demonstrated how police in the president’s ‘drug war’ have killed with impunity and consistently been shielded from prosecution,” Adler said.

The coverage included a report that revealed how a police anti-drug squad on the outskirts of Manila had recorded an unusually high number of killings. Many members of the squad came from a distant place that was also Duterte’s hometown, where the campaign’s brutal methods originated during his time as mayor there.

Asked on Monday for comment on the Pulitzer award, Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque offered his congratulations to the Filipino member of the Reuters team, but stood by a campaign he said was lawful and necessary.



“Definitely, I’d have to congratulate Manuel Mogato but the fact remains that the policy of the president on the drug war is that the drug war is legitimate, intended to protect the youth from the ill effect of drugs,” Roque said during a regular news briefing.

Roque said the government would defend state officials involved in drug-related killings who had followed the law, but not those who had broken it.

“If the killings are contrary to law and unjustified, it will cause the criminal prosecution of the policemen themselves,” Roque said.

Source: Reuters

risingbd/Dhaka/April 17, 2018/A K Azad