The journalist and president of the Télam agency, Bernarda LlorenteI affirm that journalism “does not have to be stripped of the best values”upon receiving the Hrant Dink 2022 award given by the Armenian Cultural Association, for contributing to “the dissemination of the Armenian Cause”.
Llorente received the recognition together with the editor and founder of Late Magazine, Daniel Wezenbergin a ceremony that began after 8 pm at the headquarters of the Armenian organization, located at 1366 Armenia Street in the City of Buenos Aires.
“The recognitions are the product of the desire of many wills to do serious, truthful and committed journalism, to communicate in the best way, which does not have to be stripped of certain values, which in this case coincides with those of the Armenian people”, Llorente expressed upon receiving the distinction.
In addition, he claimed that “the Armenian people were terribly massacred and beaten”but noted that “at the same time he had the enormous will to rebuild and continue fighting”.
Among those present were the Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana; the Armenian ambassador to Argentina, Hovhannes Virabyan; the former head of the AFI, Cristina Caamaño, and the archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Argentina, Kissag Muradian.
The ceremony
More than 70 people attended the ceremonyamong Armenian officials and members of that community, and relatives and friends of the laureates.
Llorente took the stage to receive the Hrant Dink 2022 distinction after the screening of a video, where the event organizers highlighted her career as programming director for Telefé, where she produced Television for Identity.
They also highlighted the Télam agency’s coverage of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 and the various attacks in the Nagorno-Karabakh area, whose Armenian population proclaims itself as an independent republic of Artzaj, but without international recognition; and the signing of an informative cooperation agreement this year between this agency and Armenpress, from Armenia.
In this sense, Llorente stressed that Armenia was managed “based on respect for human rights” and also included the “right to identity” and “the right to build a noble people.”
“The recognitions are the product of the desire of many wills to do serious, truthful and committed journalism, to communicate in the best way, which does not have to be stripped of certain values, which in this case coincides with those of the Armenian people”Bernarda Llorente
“That is what our daily work in journalism is about,” he continued, and highlighted the reconstruction work of the Télam agency, after “it was silenced in the last government and 357 workers were fired.”
He considered that an attempt was made to “silence dissenting voices” in the state media, “which the private media do not have.”
For his part, the director of Late magazine, Daniel Wizenberg, thanked for the recognition and expressed that “you don’t have to be an Armenian to be committed to their cause.”
“When we think of Armenia, we think of a denial that is unusual,” he continued, stating that “we simply ask that they stop denying what happened.”
The journalist said that after traveling to the Artsakh area, he was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan in 2016.
“We were not partial: some give you an award and others put you on the black list. The dividing line was respect for human rights,” he added.
In addition, he highlighted “the fundamentally documentary value” that journalism has as “the raw material of historians”, and after denouncing poor working conditions in some areas for this work, he said: “That documentary role is not going to be made more precarious.”
Also, the organizers of the event showed a video highlighting the journalist’s career and his coverage of the border conflict in the Artsakh area for the magazine Late and Page 12, “with the professionalism that characterizes him, for practicing journalism committed to serving the just causes.”
The ceremony began with a few words by the Director of the Armenian National Council, Aram Mouratian, who denounced “the illegal invasion of Armenian territory, which violates all the principles of human rights”, and thanked “ethical journalism, committed to a better world”.
Addressing Llorente and Wizenberg, he expressed: “I want to thank you, recognize you, honor you but also encourage you and all those who want to encourage us in this fight.”
Wizenberg also shared a video with the public of a basement located in the Artsakh area “that was attacked in the war” and that had “acoustics that were a world heritage site”, in order to show “what is lost in war”.
In addition, Beatriz Arslanian, correspondent for the Armenian newspaper and columnist for Late Magazine, who is living in the conflict zone and passing “the daily report on the events that were taking place,” was also honored.
Since 2007, the award has been named after Hrant Dink, assassinated that same year in Istanbul, Turkey, as he left the Agos newspaper, of which he was director.
Among the journalists who previously received the distinction are: José Eliaschev, Alfredo Leuco, Liliana López Foresi, Víctor Hugo Morales, Osvaldo Bayer, Eduardo Aliverti, Andrés Repetto, Pedro Brieger, María O’Donnell, Thelma Luzzani, Juan Sasturain, Reynaldo Sietecase, Marcelo Zlotogwiazda, Rodolfo Barili, Santiago Farrell, Magda Tagtachian, Daniel Vittar, among others.
