RSF win its first Peabody Award
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the DDB agency and the production company Media.Monks received a Peabody Award on May 9, 2023 in the Immersive & Interactive category for The Uncensored Library, a digital library located within the game Minecraft which allows citizens of repressive regimes to bypass censors to access forbidden books and articles.
Even in highly repressive countries, Minecraft is still subject to little censorship. With more than 145 million active monthly players and an average user age of 24, Minecraft is one of the world’s most popular video games. The Minecraft ecosystem thus provides a rich opportunity to reach a young audience thirsty for knowledge.
The Uncensored Library, a virtual depository of media within Minecraft which RSF has maintained since 2020, publishes articles in their original language that have been censored in their respective countries. Nine countries are currently served by the library, including Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Belarus. On March 12, 2023, to mark the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, RSF opened a new room about Iran and expanded the room dedicated to Russian news media.
“The enemies of media freedom continually find new ways to shut down criticism, discourse, and honest press coverage. And so we must continually innovate to overcome government censorship. We are grateful for this recognition, but we hope to one day no longer need such workarounds for people to simply access information.
Reporters Without Borders worked together with the creative agency DDB Germany, the design studio BlockWorks and the production company Media.Monks to realize the project. Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi supports the project, alongside internationally acclaimed journalists like Nguyen Van Dai and Yulia Berezovskaia.
