The first globally-oriented journalism prize aims to set an example to motivate journalists all over the world and to strengthen them in their work. In the 21st century, journalism’s role as an indispensable critical institution for democracy is continually and everywhere being put to the test: freedom of the press is limited, the media is politically controlled, economically instrumentalised, and digitally fragmented. The price for this is high: in many places the loss of a plural and independent representation of events or developments in the media is impacting upon the formation of free and critical opinion. This makes courageous and innovative reporters all the more important, in all societies and countries. It is for them that the True Story Award was created.
The central idea of the prize is to supplement and broaden the predominantly Western view of the world with other perspectives. Due to the nature of media coverage, readers in North America and Europe have a view of the world different to those in the Arab world, Africa and Asia. The prize encourages the broadening of our field of vision through the voices of reporters from different countries.
The True Story Award has no editorial, economic or ideological agenda. It simply hopes to recognise first-class journalism.