Latest
News |
Leeds Met Professor of Public Relations awards medal to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
17/06/05
Professor Anne Gregory, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) 2004 and Director of Public Relation Studies at Leeds Met, awarded a prestigious medal to human rights campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently.
Professor Gregory, who was born and raised in Yorkshire, chose to give her CIPR President’s Medal to Archbishop Tutu, at an event in Harrogate, in recognition of his outstanding, lifelong commitment to working for democracy through open and honest communications.
In presenting the medal she said Archbishop Tutu was “instrumental in bringing about democracy, a system that only works if communication is open and transparent”.
Archbishop Tutu was recognized for his work as a principle mediator in the transition of democracy when he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. In 1986, Tutu became Archbishop of Cape Town. Combined with this role he continued the work he had begun as the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches to bridge the gap between black and white South Africans.
In 1995 President Nelson Mandela appointed Archbishop Tutu as Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Shortly after his retirement from office as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, he was granted the honorary title of Archbishop of Emeritus and has since campaigned to raise awareness of HIV and Aids.
Professor Gregory said: ‘’Archbishop Tutu has dedicated years of his life to the pursuit of justice and racial harmony through communications. He has placed communications at the heart of everything he does and by doing so has harnessed its power.
“He is a positive voice, highlighting the need for understanding, reconciliation and liberalisation, in a media age that often focuses on the negative aspects of difference”.
Delighted to receive this award, Archbishop Tutu said: “Communication is a great force for good in society. It allows us to reach, learn, understand and respect one another. It is through communication that we can progress: overcome obstacles, achieve our goals and generate new ones.
“Good communication, therefore, should be prized and nurtured. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations has an important role to play in doing this, as it exists to advance and raise the standards of communications practice through sharing knowledge.”
Archbishop Tutu
During his career Archbishop Tutu has held several distinguished
academic and world leadership posts. These include Fellowship
of Kings College, London; Chancellor of the University of West
Cape and Visiting Professor at the Episcopal Divinity School
Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also holds honorary degrees from
well over a hundred universities, including Harvard, Oxford
and Cambridge. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize he has
received many prizes and awards, most notably the Order of
Meritorious Service Award (Gold) presented by Nelson Mandela
and the Martin Luther King Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize.
