Mehdi Atmani is Swiss Press Journalist of the Year

The Fondation Reinhardt von Graffenried announced on Wednesday that his research had hardly attracted any public attention. "Cryptoleaks" was the first scoop of the media year 2020. On February 22, the "Rundschau" of SRF television revealed how American intelligence services and the German Federal Intelligence Service had spied on more than a hundred countries for decades with manipulated cipher devices from the Swiss company Crypto.

The scandal, which the Washington Post and the Second German Television (ZDF), went around the world. "Only: 'Cryptoleaks' was actually no longer breaking news at this point," the foundation writes in this regard.

Because on November 18, 2019, a five-part video series had gone online on the website of the French-speaking Swiss television RTS. "La Suisse sous couverture" had documented a Switzerland as a "center of espionage" that had never hesitated to "sacrifice its neutrality to political, economic and military interests." The web series, however, had not elicited any response.

The 36-year-old freelance journalist Atmani had spent ten years researching Switzerland on a secret mission in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Belgium. He then summarized the crypto affair in a 14-minute film.

No resentment despite lack of appreciation

Eleven days after the Rundschau scoop, a German-language version was published on the online portal Srf.ch, but Atmani's name was not found. The Lausanne journalist does not seem to harbor any resentment against his Zurich colleagues: The "Rundschau" report has fueled the desired public debate. Atmani, on the other hand, finds it a pity that the SRG broadcasters on both sides of the Röstigraben, aware of each other's parallel research, had not coordinated their efforts. However, he and his small team have gained legitimacy, which is extremely useful for further research. "Cryptoleaks" is probably only the tip of the iceberg.

His meticulous work, his humility and his will to continue distinguished Mehdi Atmani as "Swiss Press Journalist of the Year," the foundation writes further. He is the first holder of this new title and will receive 25,000 Swiss francs in prize money. To "package" the research into a five-part video series, he had teamed up with Alexandre Bugnon. The two are therefore also the winners in the Swiss Press Video category.

More awards

The following category winners were also selected: Arnaud Robert (Swiss Press Text) for a report on global toilet hygiene, Christian Zeier and team (Swiss Press Online) who addressed a financial scandal in Mozambique, Franziska Engelhardt and Stefanie Müller-Frank (Swiss Press Audio) with an article on the Messi syndrome, and François Ruchti (Swiss Press Local) with a report on big game hunting in Valais.

Already at the beginning of April it had become known that Yves Leresche (Swiss Press Photo) had been chosen for a picture series about the women's strike in the magazine L'Illustré award. He has now also been named Swiss Press Photographer of the Year, for which he will receive CHF 25,000.

The winners of the text, online, audio and local categories each received CHF 15,000. Each of the winners was also presented with a diamond for their outstanding work. The total prize money amounts to 128,000 Swiss francs.

The Fondation Reinhardt von Graffenried, which is independent of publishing houses, was founded with the aim of promoting Swiss journalism. (SDA)