Ferrol, May 6 (EFE).- The journalist Marcos Méndez collected the XIX José Couso Prize for Press Freedom this Saturday during an act in Ferrol, in which he claimed the news coverage of armed conflicts, of which he assured that there have been “wars forever” and he hopes that “there will always be journalists to tell about them.”
The informant from Lugo, who has been following the development of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia since 2022, has deserved the award given annually by the Professional Association of Xornalistas of Galicia and the Ferrol Press Club.
The award ceremony took place at the Jofre theater after the usual floral offering before the “Ás ceibes” monument, in the Canton of Molíns Ferrol, where the journalist from Diario de Ferrol Verónica Vázquez read the manifesto on the occasion of this day .
Vázquez has warned of the influence of “precariousness” in journalism, which he has defined as “a patient who resists, it seems, whatever is thrown at him”, and has called for “respect for our work to diffuse any attempt to pressure during conferences frantic events that await us” before the municipal elections on May 28.
Méndez has estimated that this Saturday “is a very happy day, but I am here to report a lot of pain”, and has stressed that for him “it is an honor and a great responsibility” that his name remains “forever linked to that of José Couso” .
The journalist, who has participated in a discussion after a reception chaired by the mayor of Ferrol, Ángel Mato, has signed the city’s Book of Honor, in which he has written: “For someone from Lugo, being in Ferrol is always like being at home, especially when you spend most of your life outside of our country”.
Regarding his work, he has indicated that he is “freelance by choice”, but he has pointed out that a large part of the members of this group have no alternative, and has urged “to make people see that ours is a very beautiful profession, but that cannot be exercised by spending savings”.
“We have to be as objective as possible, but I sign my chronicles with my name and surname and part of what Marcos is in them,” he observed about his work in Ukraine.
Marcos Méndez, born in Lugo in 1976, has worked as a journalist since 1996 in media such as Localia Televisión, Telecinco, Antena 3 Televisión and Televisión Española, to work since 2010 as a “freelance” for TVG, Radio Galega, laSexta, Telecinco or Cuatro since different countries.
Special envoy to the Ukrainian conflict since February 2022, he was one of the first to access the city of Bucha on April 2 of last year and his information since the conflict has been disseminated in Spain by El Progreso, TVG, Radio Galega, Telecinco and Four.