URI alum, journalist demonstrates dedication to truth
URI alum Christiane Amanpour of CNN receives the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Clark | Staff Photographer
University of Rhode Island alum Christiane Amanpour received the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
The Foster Award recognizes journalistic integrity and a commitment to the truth in public communication, according to The Arthur W. Page Center at Pennsylvania State University, the hosts of the award. Honorees were chosen based on their work in public relations and communication, and included Christiane Amanpour, Ken Chenault and Andy Polansky.
“This award is a testament to hard work and how [Amanpour] has been able to rise above the controversies and all the other issues that have been going around the media industry,” Ammina Kothari, director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media, said. “It’s a pretty prestigious award, so it’s a good thing for Harrington and for our current students to know that we have alums who are still maintaining the integrity in their work and are being recognized.”
Kothari explained that Amanpour’s work during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, along with her decades of journalistic integrity, contributed to her being honored with this award.
“I think it’s a testament to the training that the journalism program provides,” Kothari said.
She highlighted how the URI journalism curriculum and Harrington as an institution helps students find success at a larger scale including many distinguished alumni who work in the news at the local and national level.
“[Amanpour] is an example of somebody who has done global work and also has set the trend and foraged a pathway for people interested in doing ethical, international news reporting, particularly from conflict zones,” Kothari said. “Not a lot of other journalism programs can say that, I think that is something unique about our program.”
Public distrust in the media has increased over the past few years, according to Kothari. Amanpour’s constant dedication to the truth and journalistic integrity is fundamental to her winning the Foster Award.
“It’s a great honor because it goes right to the heart of our journalistic codes,” Amanpour said. “It recognizes integrity in communications and I have always said that is our currency. Without credibility and trust, we are worthless.”
Amanpour commented on the modern political climate domestically here in the United States, and on an international level, and how it is affecting how journalists can operate.
“In a very fundamental way the mounting assault on journalists worldwide boils down to politics,” Amanpour said. “We see ever more platforms present as nakedly partisan political platforms. This is the only democracy with the First Amendment protecting the right to free speech. It’s really bad in autocracies and dictatorships, where local journalists can pay with their lives and their freedom, for not toe-ing the party line.”
Amanpour explained that journalism is under attack, especially when the government or authority figure is challenged, and that journalists can risk being labeled as a public enemy, all while attempting to report the truth.
Kothari said that the Harrington School is planning to officially invite Amanpour to the University in the fall semester to coincide with the official opening of Ranger Hall as the Harrington Hub and for the Amanpour Lecture Series, which has featured respected media professionals, as well as Amanpour herself, in the past.