NEW DELHI: Global Opinions Writer at Washington Post and an author Rana Ayyub on Monday won the 2020 McGill Medal for journalistic courage.
“Ayyub is committed to telling the stories of people who can’t do it on her own, making her an ideal McGill medal recipient,” Sofia Gratas, the McGill Fellow responsible for researching the nomination said.
Ayyub, after winning the award said it was a huge honour for her.”I accept this award on behalf of all journalists who are fighting an unpopular battle to speak the truth,” she tweeted.
The Mumbai-based journalist Ayyub will collect the award at The Grady College Of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia on 22 April.
Ayyub was previously an editor with the investigative magazine Tehelka.
‘Gujarat Files‘
She also authored an international bestseller titled of “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-Up”, an undercover investigation which exposes the complicity of the PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in state-sponsored genocide in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
She has often been the target of the vitriolic abuse that is hurled on her on social media platforms from Hindutva activists.
In 2019, Ayyub was named by Time magazine among ten global journalists who face the maximum threat to their lives.
McGill Medal
The McGill program is named for Ralph McGill, the late editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution. McGill was regarded by many as “the conscience of the South” for his editorials challenging racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s.
The McGill Medal, now in its twelfth year, is part of the McGill Program for Journalistic Courage at UGA’s Grady College.