NEW YORK, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In a career of over 30 years as a documentary filmmaker, Ofra Bikel's work has freed more innocent prisoners than many professionals in the criminal justice system. Powerful, persuasive and relentless, her documentaries reveal hard truths about an American justice system that is at times vulnerable to ambition, racism, inertia, pride, haste, hysteria, corruption and a host of other human frailties. Bikel, who has worked exclusively for the PBS series FRONTLINE since its inception in 1983, will be presented with the 2007 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism at a black tie gala at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library on Tuesday, November 13.
Thirteen men and women walk the streets today because Ofra Bikel wouldn't let the public forget about them. "People pay attention to death row prisoners when they try to make a case for their innocence because the stakes are life or death. If you are imprisoned with a sentence like 15-to-life then it is easier for the criminal justice system to turn the page and write you off," says Bikel. In eye-opening documentaries such as Snitch, The Case for Innocence, and The Plea, Bikel has reported on what really happens when the wheels of justice break down in America. Her journalism has explored how the criminal justice system relies on aggressive plea bargaining to secure convictions and avoid the process of jury trials, how eyewitness testimony can turn out to be terribly wrong, and how judges and prosecutors sometimes resist acknowledging mistakes even in the face of irrefutable DNA evidence.
The $25,000 annual John Chancellor Award, administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, recognizes and rewards a journalist whose reporting over time shows courage, integrity, curiosity and intelligence. Nicholas Lemann, who is the dean of the journalism school, said, "Ofra Bikel's work has shone a stark light on the realities of the American justice system. Equal parts legal primer and cautionary tale, Bikel's documentaries are used in the law schools of Yale, Harvard and Georgetown University.
The John Chancellor Award was established in 1995 by Ira A. Lipman, founder and chairman of Guardsmark, LLC, one of the world's largest security service firms.
For more information: http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/chancellor.
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
