About the Role of Journalism in International Justice Panelists
Max du Preez, South Africa
Max du Preez was born in Kroonstad, South Africa in 1951 and did his Undergraduate work in political science at Stellenbosch University. He began his work as a journalist for the Nasionale Pers group, in parliament and as war correspondent in Angola and Namibia, between 1974 and 1982. Following this, he worked as a freelance journalist in Northern Ireland and East Berlin in 1982-83. Mr. du Preez also served as Political Correspondent for the Financial Mail and the Sunday Times in Johannesburg until 1987, during which time he was a member of the mostly Afrikaner delegation who held controversial talks with the then still banned African National Congress in Dakar, Senegal in 1987. Upon his return, Max du Preez founded the first (and only) anti-apartheid newspaper in the Afrikaans language, called Vrye Weekblad. The paper was the first to expose the death squads and systematic torture and assassinations of the apartheid government’s police force and army, and was constantly harassed by the government. It was forced to close down a few months before the advent of democracy in 1994.
In 1994, Max du Preez joined the public broadcaster, the SABC, as a television anchor and documentary producer. Here, he served as the Executive Producer and Presenter of the Special Report on the Truth Commission, a weekly television programme on the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Altogether, 87 programmes were broadcast between 1996 and 1998. The Special Report became the primary source of information on the TRC process for most South Africans and was the most watched programme on television. Throughout the TRC, Mr. du Preez wrote and commented on the Truth Commission process for many South African and foreign publications and television and radio stations.
When the Special Report on the TRC ended, he started up a weekly news and investigative documentary series for the SABC called Special Assignment, but was dismissed by the SABC in 1999 “for disrespecting senior management”, a charge he did not deny.
Max du Preez is presently working as an independent documentary film maker and weekly columnist for The Star (Johannesburg), the Cape Argus, the Pretoria News and the Daily Mail (Durban). He has published three highly acclaimed and best-selling books: Pale Native – Memories of a Renegade Reporter (2003), Of Lovers, Warriors and Prophets (2004), and Oranje Blanje Blues (2005). Among his many awards are the Pringle Award for contributing to press freedom from the Southern African Union of Journalists; the Louis M Lyons Award for Integrity and Conscience in Journalism from the Niemann Fellows at Harvard University at Cambridge (Mass); an honorary degree from the University of Cape Town; and the Excellence in Journalism award from the Southern African Foreign Correspondents Association.
Thomas Kamilindi, Rwanda
Thomas Kamilindi is a former Radio Rwanda journalist in Kigali. He resigned one month before the genocide started. He narrowly escaped death during the genocide, but not his first born daughter. He took refuge in the Hotel des Mille Collines which inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda.
After the genocide and the civil war, Thomas Kamilindi worked as freelance for several international agencies and radio broadcasting stations, especially the BBC. He testified as a prosecution witness in the Media Trial in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
He spoke to forty journalists of Ivory Cost in a seminar on “Journalism and Conflicts” organized in Abidjan by Media Action International (MAI), in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support (IMS) and Communication Assistance Foundation. The goal was to enable the journalists to face the challenges of reporting during conflicts, highlighting basic journalist professional standards and their application during conflict situation.
Thomas Kamilindi spoke to the symposium “The Media and the Rwanda Genocide” organized in Ottawa by the School of Journalism and Communication of the Carleton University, to the students and teachers of the Ave Maria School of Low (Ann Arbor), and in the University of Michigan where he is currently a Knight-Wallace Fellow researching on “Hate Media and Its Impact”.
Refik Hodžić
As former head of the ICTY Outreach Office in Bosnia-Herzegovina, former film director Refik Hodžić possesses first-hand knowledge of the Srebrenica massacre and war atrocities committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the ICTY and the current situation in Bosnia. Mr. Hodžić has recently been appointed head of the Public Information and Outreach Section of the War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Previously he was one of the directors of the 2004 film Justice Unseen.
Tina Rosenberg, Human Rights & Foreign Policy
Tina Rosenberg was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Michigan. She has been an editorial writer at The New York Times since 1996, concentrating on foreign policy. She was a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Before joining The Times, she was a freelance writer of books and magazine articles. Her 1994 book, “The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism,” won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. She is also author of “Children of Cain: Violence and the Violent in Latin America.” She has lived in Nicaragua, Chile and Mexico and now lives in New York. Mexico City.
Julia Urrunaga
Julia Urrunaga is a former journalist and current MA candidate in Yale University’s International Relations Program, where her research focuses on governmental corruption and transparency. A native of Peru, Julia also holds degrees in teaching from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru; in Finance and Economics from the Business Management School for Graduates (ESAN); and a BA in Communications from the Universidad de Lima, all in Lima, Peru.
Julia’s work as a journalist began in 1995, when she began researching and reporting corruption within the Peruvian government. Her career escalated when she began working for El Comercio Newspaper in 2002. Focusing again upon governmental corruption and human rights abuses, she took on the role of Editor of the Investigative team. Here, she was faced with a number of issues involving post-conflict justice and human rights violations. During her time with the team, she was involved in exposing atrocities committed by the regime as well as advocating for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in that country.
Following her work for El Comercio, Ms. Urrunaga took on the position of Chief of Programs for the Journalism initiative at the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) in Lima, Peru. Most recently, Julia served as Editor of Puntodu, the University Newspaper of Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima. Among other things, Julia served as an election monitor in the 2001 Elections in Honduras.
For her work in journalism, Ms. Urrunaga has garnered several award including First Prize for In-depth Reporting in the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Journalism Award, Finalist in the Fundación para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI) “New Journalism Award,” winner of The National Superintendence of the Tax Revenue Administration of Peru (Sunat) Journalism Award, and winner of The National Institute for Competition and Copyright Protection Defense of Peru (Indecopi) Journalism Award.