VIDEO: Amanpour Appeals for Freedom and Safety of American Journalists

On Nov. 22, the Committee to Protect Journalists honored Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent and anchor at CNN, with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. Please take a moment to watch the full video above.

In her comments, she expressed concern about president-elect Donald Trump’s vilification of the press, saying she was “chilled” by his tweet following the election about “professional protesters incited by the media,” a sentiment that evokes similar accusations from authoritarian regimes around the world.

“A great America requires a great and free and safe press. So this above all is an appeal to protect journalism itself. Recommit to robust fact-based reporting without fear or favor – on the issues. Don’t stand for being labelled crooked or lying or failing. Do stand up together – for divided we will all fall.”

Amanpour also called on journalists to avoid pitfalls of false equivalence by giving equal weight to shoddy information in the name of balance and objectivity.

“I learned long ago, covering the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Bosnia, never to equate victim with aggressor, never to create a false moral or factual equivalence, because then you are an accomplice to the most unspeakable crimes and consequences. I believe in being truthful, not neutral. And I believe we must stop banalizing the truth.”