REPORTING COURAGE, INTEGRITY AWARD GOING TO LATE MICHAEL KELLY

Michael Kelly's Parents, Widow Acknowledge Honor

Los Angeles, CA, June 4, 2003 - The late Michael Kelly, a journalist who died while on assignment in Iraq earlier this year, will be honored with the second annual Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism.

The award is given by the Los Angeles Press Club in consultation with the Pearl family.

Kelly, 46, was editor at large for The Atlantic Monthly and a contributor to The Washington Post. He was killed in April while traveling with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division when a Humvee he was riding in plunged into a canal. He also was a former editor of The New Republic.

The Pearl Award will be presented by James Hill, managing editor of The Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicated Kelly's columns. It will be accepted by Kelly's widow, Madelyn, at the 45th annual Southern California Journalism Awards to be held June 21.

"Like Daniel Pearl, Mike was known for his honesty, forthrightness and decency, not only as a witness, but as a man," Madelyn Kelly said. "He would be deeply honored to be remembered with the Daniel Pearl Award."

Pearl, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in January 2002 by an Islamic militant group in Pakistan and later killed. He grew up in Los Angeles' Encino area.

His parents and widow, Marianne, said they regretted that this year's award had to be given in memoriam, but were pleased to be honoring Kelly's memory. Last year's first award went to Pearl's family.

"Michael Kelly exemplified the best in journalism," Pearl's parents, Judea and Ruth said. "He was a man of wit and warmth who challenged conventional wisdom and never compromised truth in the face of adversity."

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press.

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