Meryl Streep is showing her support for free press by honoring humanitarian Amal Clooney at the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards. Streep, an Oscar-winning actress, will present Clooney, a human rights lawyer, with the 2020 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award in a virtual ceremony later this month.
“In times of unprecedented uncertainty, it’s journalists who are out there, gathering the facts and trying to help us make sense of it all,” Streep, who once played the Washington Post’s first female publisher Katharine Graham in “The Post,” said in a statement. “By asking tough questions, and pursuing the truth at any cost, they are essential workers — serving the public and protecting democracy.”
The ceremony will showcase and award work by reporters around the world, including journalists from Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria and Russia who faced arrest or prosecution for their work.
Clooney will be honored for her work as counsel for journalists under threat, like 2018 Gwen Ifill Awardee Maria Ressa, who was persecuted for her reporting on government corruption in her home country the Philippine. Ressa will also interview Clooney for the award.
The 2020 International Press Freedom Awards will be broadcast online at www.ipfa2020.org as well as NBC News, CBS News and ABC News on Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. EST.
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