Jean Daniel Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2004

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2004 Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanities, made up of D. Lluis Xabel Álvarez, D. Ignacio Bayón Mariné, D. Raúl Bocanegra Sierra, D. Alejandro Echevarría, D. Javier Gómez Cuesta, D. Javier González Ferrari, D. Miguel Ángel Gozalo, D. Ryszard Kapuściński, D. Manuel Lombardero, D.ª Catalina Luca de Tena, D. Hans Meinke, D.ª Beatriz de Moura, D. Pedro Páramo, D. Ernesto Sáenz de Buruaga, D. José Antonio Sánchez, D. Ricardo Senabre, D. Jesús de la Serna, D. Enrique Ybarra, chaired by D. Manuel Olivencia with Juan Luis Iglesias Prada as secretary have decided by a majority decision to bestow the 2004 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and the Humanities on Jean Daniel, the French writer and journalist

Irresistibly drawn to the works of Ramón Llull, the Majorcan writer, who he has given a number of conferences on, Jean Daniel is a figurehead of a journalism committed to truthfulness and independence from political pressure who has worked longstandingly in journalism in such publications as Le Monde, L'Express and Le Nouvel Observateur, which he also founded. He has invariably managed to infuse his work with a profoundly thoughtful and critical tone that builds upon the intellectual heritage, courage and ethical rigour of such writers as Albert Camus and George Orwell; such qualities make Jean Daniel an eminent representative of the best humanistic journalism of our times.

Oviedo, 30th June 2004.