London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty announced the winners of the Reporting Asylum Local Press Awards in a ceremony at City Hall.
The awards, now in their third year, recognise excellence in London’s local, regional, faith and black minority ethnic newspapers in reporting of asylum and refugees.
Tower Hamlets council’s newspaper East End Life won the best news coverage award. The paper entered a feature on the work of a local refugee organisation that is challenging negative stereotypes of asylum seekers. The paper also won the award for best use of visual or creative material.
Thelondonpaper won best background and comment material for its profile piece on Peter Paduh, who fled the war in Bosnia and runs an award-winning computer recycling business.
Best coverage in a faith or black, Asian or minority ethnic paper went to the Eastern Eye.
Livingstone praised London’s local and regional ethnic press over the national press’s coverage of asylum and refugees. He said: ‘London’s media has a vital role in challenging discrimination and negative stereotyping which refugees and asylum seekers often face in the capital.
‘These awards highlight some of the best examples of positive and balanced coverage about the lives of newcomers to London and provide a clear contrast to the scaremongering which often appears in the media.”
Pictured left to right : Shami Chakrabarti, Liberty; Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ; Helen Watson, East End Life; Ken Livingstone, mayor of London; Nazek Ramandan, The New Londoner; Simon Wroe, Camden New Journal; Kois Miah, East End Life; Jessica Odubayo, East End Life; Dominic Midgely, thelondonpaper; Aditi Khanna, Eastern Eye; Kevin Downing, London Informer
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