Reuters and AP Win Pulitzer for International Journalism

Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes this year, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces and another for the photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States.

Reuters and the Associated Press were both awarded the Pulitzer prizes for international reporting. Associated Press won the prize for its coverage of war atrocities in Yemen. 

Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said, “While it’s gratifying to be recognized for the work, public attention should be focused more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants”.

Last year too, Reuters won two Pulitzers, a most prestigious prize which recognizes extraordinary literary and journalistic works. Reuters has so far won seven Pulitzer since 2008.

The two Pulitzer winning reporters who won the prize for their Myanmar report are in jail for more than 490 days in Myanmar for their role in cover the killings in Myanmar. The investigative report they filed has revealed the massacre of 10 Rohingya at the Inn Din village in the heart of the conflict zone of Rakhine province in Myanmar.

Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are both Myanmar citizens and have found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from witness and families of victims and were successful in obtaining three devastating photographs from villagers that depicted the gruesome killings. 

In December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested before they could complete the story. The full report, “Massacre in Myanmar,” was later completed by Simon Lewis and Antoni Slodkowski and published in the month of February last year. 

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for violating the country’s Official Secrets Act in September last year. 

Stephen J. Adler also said, “I’m thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognized for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles. I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars.” 

Pulitzer also recognised the works of The New York Times and the Washington Post, who also won two Pulitzers each in the categories like the coverage of mass shootings in the United States and investigations into US President Donald Trump.