On October 3, 2013, AOAV published a list of 100 men and women who it considers «the most influential writers and broadcasters covering armed violence and conflict around the world», as chosen by its staff.

From besieged cities in Syria to American street-corners, and countless other places in between, armed violence continues to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people a year. It fundamentally reshapes the world we live in. Yet for a vast number of people, violence and conflict are abstractions far removed from their daily realities.

Journalists are the bridge between those peaceful and violent worlds. Without their bravery and determination to bring the realities of armed violence to the rest of the world, we would neither understand nor be able to address the issues that cause and propagate violence.

Recognizing that it cannot be a comprehensive list and traying to strike a balance between the established  and the emerging media, the jury included correspondents with hundreds or thousands of published stories, reports and documentaries during decades of experience in the field and «some who have demonstrated incredible potential from just a few stories».

Several categories of journalists are not represented here. Our list focuses on journalists working primarily in the spoken or written word – writers, TV and radio correspondents, and some documentary makers. Photographers and videographers are no less courageous, talented or important than those on this list, but they are not represented here. We will leave that to another list. We also did not include correspondents who are retired or inactive, regardless of the strength of their past contributions.

Rather the goal of the list is to highlight those whose work has illuminated difficult and complex issues of violence in the past and who are continuing to do so going forward.

We believe that the journalists on this list are exceptional for a number of reasons. Their physical courage – going to war zone after war zone, relaying the ground truth despite the very real risks of injury, imprisonment, torture and death – is commendable on its own merits. No less so is their moral courage: disputing the official narratives of war and armed conflict, challenging the powerful and ruthless.

But these journalists should also be considered exceptional because of their love of the truth. Not everyone entrusted with the public trust displays such qualities… MORE