Journalists Katja Gloger and Deutsche Welle host Jaafar Abdul Karim have received the prestigious Werner Holzer Prize in Frankfurt, recognizing their dedicated foreign reporting and efforts to defend press freedom. The award ceremony at the historic Römer town hall coincided with what would have been the 100th birthday of Werner Holzer, a veteran foreign correspondent and former editor-in-chief of the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.
Honors for Critical Russia Coverage and Colonial History Research
Former Russia correspondent Katja Gloger secured the first prize for her extensive reporting on Russian foreign policy and Kremlin leadership. Gloger, who relocated to Moscow in 1989 and documented the early presidency of Vladimir Putin, recently co-authored the book “The Failure: An Investigative Report of Germany’s Russia Policy” with Georg Mascolo, offering a critical analysis of German diplomatic misjudgments toward Moscow. The jury commended her deep access to Kremlin decision-makers ranging from Mikhail Gorbachev to Putin.
In her acceptance speech, Gloger delivered an urgent plea to protect reliable, fact-based journalism and dedicated her award to exiled reporters as well as her former colleagues at Novaya Gazeta. The independent Russian newspaper was forced to halt its domestic operations and leave its Moscow premises earlier in the week. Pointing to figures from Reporters Without Borders, where she served for 12 years, Gloger highlighted that only one in 100 people globally currently has access to a free and independent press.
A research grant was also awarded to freelance reporter Luise Land. Her current project investigates her German-Namibian family’s extensive property holdings in Namibia, examining the long-term impact of the early 20th-century genocide committed against the Herero and Nama peoples by German colonial forces.
Promoting Open Dialogue Across Divides
The second prize went to Deutsche Welle presenter Jaafar Abdul Karim, host of the talk show JaafarTalk. The jury praised Abdul Karim for setting new standards in international broadcasting by engaging millions of viewers across Germany and the Arab world on topics that are frequently treated as taboo. So far in 2026, his program has accumulated more than 1.1 billion views across digital platforms and expanded its audience to over 9 million followers under the motto “Diversity fosters dialogue.”
Addressing the audience in Frankfurt, Abdul Karim acknowledged that foreign reporting has become increasingly difficult due to rising hostility and threats both online and offline. He emphasized that journalists hold a duty to connect distinct social bubbles rather than deepen existing divisions, advocating for open communication even when dealing with sharp disagreements.
During the event, Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef reminded attendees that fundamental rights such as free speech and press freedom in Germany trace back to the 1848 Frankfurt Parliament at the nearby Paulskirche. Abdul Karim concluded by stressing that journalists must maintain a firm stance against racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, discrimination, sexism, and hate speech from any source.
