The National Press Foundation recognizes The Wall Street Journal as the winner of the 2024 Hinrich Foundation Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade for its series on China’s phasing out of U.S. technology.
WSJ reporters Liza Lin*, Raffaele Huang and Stu Woo created an exclusive series of stories revealing China’s ‘Delete America’ efforts to replace U.S. companies’ technology with domestic alternatives; the lengths the Chinese government went to for a Huawei resurgence in spite of U.S. trade restrictions; and an “underground network sneaking Nvidia chips into China.”
Lin accepted the award at NPF’s 42nd annual awards dinner on Feb. 20.
NPF judges were particularly impressed with the Wall Street Journal’s ability to obtain a 2022 Chinese government directive, called Document 79, which requires state-owned companies to replace U.S. and other foreign software in their IT systems by 2027.
“China is known for vigorously protecting state secrets, making the Journal’s deep and compelling reporting on this issue especially impressive,” judges said.
The reporting has been cited by both Senate and House committees examining the threat of China to U.S. interests, as well as by individual lawmakers in calls to tighten U.S. export controls.
The Examination Receives Honorable Mention
NPF judges also elected to recognize The Examination, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on global health, for an investigation into the harm to human health caused by the battery recycling industry in Africa.
“The publication’s commissioning of testing of residents’ blood as well as soil samples revealed dangerously high levels of lead. Government officials have noted that those blood samples would not have been taken without the Examination’s urging,” NPF judges noted, calling the series, “a well written, expansive investigation done at some personal risk to reporters.”
A journalist in Cameroon was briefly imprisoned.
The reporting of journalists Will Fitzgibbon, Christian Locka, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi resulted in Cameroon’s environment ministry ordering upgrades to one polluting factory, a court in the Republic of Congo ordering the immediate suspension of a factory, and Trafigura, a leading commodities trader, promising an investigation.
About the Award
The Hinrich Foundation Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade was created in 2019 to recognize exemplary journalism that illuminates and advances the public’s understanding of international business and trade. Previous winners include Bloomberg News, Nikkei Asia, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
*Liza Lin was a fellow in the National Press Foundation’s 2023 International Trade Reporting Fellowship in Singapore. No NPF staff associated with the fellowship was involved in the judging of this award.
