Investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr receives first Quaker truth award
The inaugural Quaker Truth and Integrity Award has been awarded to investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr.
Concerns over the decline of truth and integrity in public life prompted the Quaker Truth and Integrity Group (QTIG) to set up an annual award.
This will recognise an exceptional contribution by a British individual or organisation towards the enhancement of standards of truth and integrity in public life.
In the award citation, QTIG said: “As an investigative journalist and author, Carole has with great courage exposed serious instances of malpractice and threats to democracy.
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As an investigative journalist and author, Carole has with great courage exposed serious instances of malpractice and threats to democracy.
- Quaker Truth and Integrity Group
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“In doing so, she has made a major contribution towards the enhancement of truth and integrity in public affairs."
Quakers have been committed to truth since the mid-17th century and QTIG was set up in 2022 in response to concerns over the undermining of truth and integrity in public life.
These concerns were highlighted this week as the Privileges Committee found former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over parties held at Downing Street in contravention of coronavirus restrictions.
Lying to parliament means lying to the people it represents. Governing with integrity is essential for generating trust, QTIG says, and when that trust breaks down people become disillusioned, and leaders lose their mandate.
QTIG hope the new award will shine a light onto these issues and stimulate growing interest around the importance of maintaining standards of truth and integrity in public life.
Carole Cadwalladr won the Orwell Prize for political journalism and was a finalist for a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for her work in exposing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
She is a features writer for the Observer and focusses on the threat to democracy from technological influences.
She undertakes this work at great personal cost, with a UNESCO report finding that she has been subjected to years of “deeply sexist and misogynistic online violence" because of her work.
“In seeking to promote democracy and the rule of law over and above personal interests, Carole is an exceptionally worthy recipient of the first Quaker Truth & Integrity Award," the QTIG citation reads.
Carole Cadwalladr was presented with a copy of this panel from the Quaker Tapestry, which celebrates the history of Quakers bearing witness through their writing.