Welcome to the 34th Annual Amnesty International Media Awards.
These awards acknowledge the vital weight of the truth you carry at a staggering cost. 2025 was the deadliest year on record for your profession, with 129 journalists killed worldwide.
As Amnesty turns 65, we face a sobering reality: the global rule of law is not just under siege – it is collapsing. In this climate, journalism is the most powerful tool we have against the rise of authoritarianism. We are living through the “storm” human rights were created for. We see crimes against humanity and the brutal repression of dissent, whether in war zones or on our own doorsteps. While powerful nations dismantle the very mechanisms designed to deliver justice, your reporting remains the primary defence against the crushing of human rights.
In the UK, we see a hardening of rhetoric and a rise in Antisemitism and Islamophobia that assaults our shared humanity. In the face of such pressure, silence isn’t neutral – it is complicity. True leadership does not exploit one community’s genuine trauma to extinguish another’s voice; it recognises that the right to demand accountability is the cornerstone of a free society.
By telling the stories of the silenced, you help the public connect the dots. The Amnesty International Media Awards are an opportunity for us to celebrate this excellence in human rights reporting and the courage of journalists who put their lives on the line – both in the UK and globally – to ensure that oppression never becomes invisible.
Thank you for your relentless pursuit of the truth and for joining us tonight to honour the vital power of human rights journalism.
