Roxana Saberi Awarded Medill Medal for Courage June 20

June 22, 2009

Recently released Iranian/American journalist Roxana Saberi was awarded the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism at Medill's convocation June 20.

Saberi, who until May 11 was in an Iranian prison, addressed the class of 2009 with words of inspiration and insight into what she thinks it means to be courageous.

"Before I went to prison on January 31 I didn't really think that much about courage," she said. "I just thought, well, I'm doing a job and I'm telling the stories of the Iranian people and the country of Iran to people that cannot come to Iran and may not ever be able to come to Iran. And then, I was taken to prison. I think in those first few weeks, I think I sank to my lowest levels. I was so afraid and I was very weak, and I kept thinking to myself, 'OK Roxana, try to remember those sayings you read about about courage -- try to find courage.'"

Saberi concluded, "I don't know how you define courage. Before I went to prison if I thought about it much maybe I would have said maybe it means focusing on something greater than I. And now I think I understand a little bit more about what this means. To focus on something greater than myself. And I think that's something that actually journalists do in their jobs. They focus on the people they're interviewing and they want to tell their stories. And they are focusing on the audiences they're trying to reach. And I think this is something we can do whether we are working in a small city, in the United States, or in a different country on the other side of the world. I hope that whatever you do you will be able to find success and courage, and you won't have to be tested by landing in prison." 

Katharine Weymouth, CEO and publisher of the Washington Post, was the event’s featured speaker.

Saberi -- who earned a master’s degree in journalism from Medill in 1999 – worked as a journalist for National Public Radio, British Broadcasting Corp. and other news outlets until her arrest by the Iranian government in February.

On April 18, she was convicted of espionage, and sentenced to eight years in prison. She was released three weeks later when an appeals court suspended her sentence to two years.

Throughout Saberi’s ordeal, Northwestern and Medill faculty, staff and students spoke out against her imprisonment and, on April 23, held a rally in support of her release. In her speech, Saberi thanked the Medill and Northwestern communities for their support

Medill annually awards its Medal of Courage for outstanding moral, ethical or physical courage in pursuit of a story to an individual or team of journalists working for a U.S.-based news outlet. The decision to award a special, out-of-cycle medal is a testament to Saberi’s personal and journalistic resilience during an extremely difficult ordeal.

The 2008 medal winner was Cleveland Plain Dealer journalist Joanna Connors for “Beyond Rape: A Survivor’s Journey.” That series explored not only trauma that the reporter experienced but also issues of race and privilege that were raised by the crime.