Best international reporting in the broadcast media dealing with human rights.
AWARD YEAR: 2004
AWARD NAME: The Eric and Amy Burger Award 2004
RECIPIENTS: Sven Bergman, Joachim Dyfvermark, Fredrik Laurin
AFFILIATION: TV 4 Sweden
HONORED WORK: “Cold Facts: The Broken Promise”
A ground-breaking investigation into a previously hidden side of the war on terror. The TV4 investigative team re- searched and uncovered what are known as “extraordinary renditions”—the secret shipping of asylum seekers or terrorism suspects to countries known for torture, with only a so-called “diplomatic assurance” that torture will not take place. The renditions to Egypt, with Sweden’s help, were accomplished through the CIA with a U.S.-government leased private jet and violated both Swedish and international law. The telecast was a bombshell in Sweden, which cherishes its reputation for upholding human rights. This program even changed policy. Following the broadcast, the Swedish government reversed course and said that the deportations were an embarrassing mistake, and has called for an international investigation. In the year since TV4’s revelations, this investigation has been the basis for a page one story in The Washington Post, a 60 Minutes show and dozens of American television, newspaper and magazine stories.
Citation for Excellence:
Claudine Lomonaco and Mary Spicuzza
WGBH and KQED—Frontline/World
“A Death in the Desert”