University of Massachusetts Amherst: Charles Sennott ’84 to Receive World Press Freedom Award from James Foley Foundation on May 1

Award-winning journalist, author and editor Charles Sennott ’84, founder and editor-in-chief of The GroundTruth Project, will receive the World Press Freedom Award from the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation on May 1, World Press Freedom Day.

Sennott has more than 40 years of experience in international, national and local journalism. GroundTruth is dedicated to advancing sustainability, innovation and equity in journalism worldwide. In 2019, after the historic acquisition of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg’s papers by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Sennott worked with the Chancellor’s Office to develop a course, website and conference on Ellsberg.

Sennott’s career included co-founding GlobalPost, an international news website that included Jim Foley, who earned his MFA at UMass Amherst in 2003, among its correspondents.

Foley was kidnapped in northern Syria in 2021 and beheaded by terrorists in 2014. Foley’s murder galvanized Sennott and others to create safety principles and practices for journalists in conflict zones, especially those working independently.

Sennott has remained close with the Foley family over the last 10 years since Jim was killed and said on his website of receiving the foundation’s award, “This is a deep and humbling honor. Jim was an extraordinary journalist and an even better human being who was always focused on compassion for the people who were caught in the middle of the wars he covered in Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.”