Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism

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Mohamed Olad Hassan, a correspondent in Somalia for the BBC World Service and The Associated Press was the winner of the 2010 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. He received the award on November 18, 2010. Keynote speaker for the event was James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic.

In choosing him, Nieman Fellows in the class of 2011 said: “Journalists face increasing pressures in many parts of the world, but Mohammed Olad Hassan stands out in a crowd of worthy candidates. We admire his intrepid reporting Mohammed Olad Hassan stands out in a crowd of worthy candidates. We admire his intrepid reporting in the face of mortal danger…. He has become the world’s eyes and ears in Somalia, and in a real sense the voice of the country.in the face of mortal danger. We appreciate his determination to carry on in an environment so hostile that almost no else will. He has become the world’s eyes and ears in Somalia, and in a real sense the voice of the country. For that we honor him.”

This year, in addition to Hassan, Nieman Fellows nominated a number of courageous journalists who report under difficult situations in countries around the globe. Finalists for the 2010 Lyons Award included Claudia Julieta Duque, a journalist who has covered human rights issues in Colombia for the past two decades and Ahmad Zeidabadi, an Iranian journalist who has been arrested multiple times for his writing and is currently serving a six-year sentence in a prison near Tehran.

Established by the Nieman class of 1964, the Louis M. Lyons Award was named for the long-serving Nieman Foundation curator who retired that year. It honors displays of conscience and integrity in communications by individuals, groups or institutions.

Each class of Nieman Fellows decides whether to present the award to a deserving individual or news organization.