BBC's Lyse Doucet to receive 2024 Zenger Award from the School of Journalism

Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, will be given the 2024 John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger Award for Press Freedom by the University of Arizona School of Journalism

Doucet will be honored for her international reporting on armed conflicts and human rights at a celebratory dinner on Nov. 1 at the Tucson Marriott University Park hotel.

Initially announced as the 2023 Zenger Award recipient, the London-based journalist was called to the Middle East to report on the early days of the conflict between Israel and Palestine shortly before last year’s reception and was unable to attend.

The Zenger Award, given by the school since 1954, honors those who fight for freedom of the press and the people’s right to know. The two previous recipients were the Committee to Protect Journalists and Yamiche Alcindor of PBS and NBC.

“For decades Doucet has done an exceptional job reporting from all over the world, obtaining prestigious recognitions for her contributions to journalism,” Director Jessica Retis said. “Her inclusive and diverse perspective on news coverage inspired the journalism school to choose her as recipient of the Zenger Award.”

Doucet has a long history of international reporting with the BBC. She began as a correspondent in 1983 reporting from West Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East. She became a presenter in 1999, spending more than two decades reporting on wars across Africa, Asia and Europe.

“To me, Doucet has always been the voice of reason on BBC News, first as presenter and now as chief international correspondent,” Director of Graduate Studies Monica Chadha said. “You will find her rushing into places from where people are usually rushing out, and reporting stories that are crucial to bring about any political or social change.”

Doucet is known for her fearless war coverage as well as her reporting on drought, famine, refugee crises and assassinations. Doucet was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award in 2002 for her coverage of the attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Doucet’s team won a Peabody in 2009 for their report, "Where Giving Life is a Death Sentence,” centered around the extremely high maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan.

She also played a key role in the BBC’s coverage of the Arab Spring during the early 2010s, and she was among a team of reporters who won an Emmy in 2014 for their coverage of Syria.

Doucet covered these historic events with careful consideration of the everyday people experiencing the unintended consequences of armed conflict.

“I look at war as relationships among people, relationships between neighbors, friends, mothers and fathers and children,” Doucet told The Guardian in 2015. “I’m a big believer in the small story telling the big story.”

Shilpa Kannan, former producer and business correspondent for BBC News, praised Doucet for her ability to connect with people from different cultures.

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“She once said that being a journalist is a huge privilege because people open up their homes and hearts to you and let you tell their stories,” Kannan said.

Arguably, the most notable characteristic of Doucet is that she shows no signs of stopping. In 2021, Doucet reported from Kabul after the Taliban takeover and wrote a love letter to the city she reported on for many years. She wrote about the broken dreams and challenges ahead once the Taliban took over and recorded interviews for the podcast, “A Wish for Afghanistan.”

She has continued to ask world leaders hard-hitting questions, such as “Should world leaders start talking to the Taliban?,” and her coverage of international conflicts endures.

Doucet’s coverage of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine is highlighted in the BBC podcast launched in October 2023, “The Conflict: Israel-Gaza,” and the BBC Two documentary “The Darkest Days: Israel-Gaza Six Months On,” which premiered in April. 

Her continued fight for the people’s right to know and freedom of the press across the world makes her the obvious choice as the School of Journalism’s Zenger Award for Press Freedom 2024 recipient.

Follow our coverage of Zenger Award festivities at @uazjschool on social media platforms.

*Editor's note: This article, contributed to by Alexandra Pere, has been updated to reflect the postponement of the 2023 award dinner.