The Thomson Reuters Foundation took back an award it had given to a Palestinian reporter after discovering her social media posts about Adolf Hitler.
Together with the Kurt Schork Foundation, it announced Tuesday that it “made the difficult decision to withdraw a journalism award conferred on reporter Shatha Hammad.” She had been named a 2022 Kurt Schork International Journalism Award recipient last week for her efforts as a freelance journalist in the West Bank.
Hammad was revealed to have shared a glowing opinion of the perpetrator of the Holocaust on her Facebook account in 2014.
The post read: “Me and Hitler are one..Friends and sleep together, but we have the same mentality, like, for example, the extermination of the Jews” with a smiley face. A second alleged post emerged, but Hammad denied having written it, so both organizations cited the single post as the reason for revoking the award.
WOKE DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS CELEBRATE ‘INTERNATIONAL PRONOUNS DAY’
Meet Shatha Hammad, a Palestinian journalist with Al Jazeera & Middle East Eye. She just won a @Reuters award. She also loves Hitler & glorifies terrorism.
Award judges: @MeeraSelva1 @angusreuters @lindseyhilsum
Advisors: @SamanthaJPower @amanpour
Ceremony: Oct. 26-27, London https://t.co/eiubltgVmb pic.twitter.com/DLLc7uJaLF
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 16, 2022
While the foundation originally awarded Hammad the title for her “resilience in her reporting on the West Bank — giving a voice to Palestinian people,” both organizations later clarified that they “stand opposed to hate speech of any description.”
?️ #KurtSchork Award winner @shathahammad4 has shown resilience in her reporting on the West Bank – giving a voice to Palestinian people.
Read about how Shatha’s team at @MiddleEastEye are celebrating her win in the Local Reporter category. ⬇️https://t.co/HLP4ZXQYb4
— Thomson Reuters Foundation (@TRF) October 14, 2022
“We have therefore taken this unusual step in order to protect the integrity of the Kurt Schork Awards, established to recognise and celebrate the courageous and brilliant reporting of conflict, corruption and injustice from journalists around the world, who risk their lives daily to speak truth to power,” the joint statement read.
Two other honorees are keeping their awards, and none of the other finalists have been named as Hammad’s replacement. They won $5,000 each, spotlights across Reuters’s social media platforms, and the opportunity to speak at a panel in London later this month.
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The awards are meant to honor the late American journalist Kurt Schork, who was killed in Sierra Leone while on assignment for Reuters in 2000. This is its 21st anniversary.
