No man is an island, Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent

– John Donne

No man better fits this poetic description of someone connected to the rest of humanity than Paddy Coulter, a friend and supporter of the Fetisov Journalism Awards, who has died suddenly.

Paddy was an accomplished journalist and human rights warrior who devoted his life to advancing the interests of press freedom and human rights worldwide.

After university at Oxford he took up a number of jobs, including head of communications at the charity Oxfam, and then went on to become an award-winning television producer. He led the International Broadcasting Trust, an independent television production company, and produced more than 100 programmes for the BBC and other broadcasters.

He was also a development consultant and a trustee for several humanitarian organisations including Oxfam, the UK Committee of UNICEF and Comic Relief, and for nine years was chair of press freedom organisation ARTICLE 19.

Part of his portfolio of charity work recently was the Fetisov Journalism Awards where he served as a member of the jury and was a much-loved and respected member of the team of experts that guides the work of the FJA.

Paddy – a nickname he picked up while at Oxford, in fact his name was John – came from a small village in Northern Ireland and was always staunchly proud of his humble Irish roots.

His experience of learning in Ireland and Oxford nourished a life-long commitment to education and helped shape a broader vision of interconnected humanity that underpinned his work combating injustice, poverty and fear around the world.

He was an irredeemable internationalist, who believed strongly in forms of journalism and communications that told the authentic stories of others and did so in a humane and respectful way.  

Whether reporting on famine relief work in Africa or peace building in the Middle East, he understood the importance of quality journalism. In particular, he focused on the tricky business of communicating the ordeal of human suffering without shredding the dignity of victims and without media voyeurism.

In his work with international organisations he was a pioneer of setting codes and standards in communications around charity work that would promote public support without relying on the shock value of abject, exploitative images. The ethics of humanity and truth-telling were always his first concerns.

His work brought him many admirers. In 1996 he was given the Gold Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association in New York and in 2000 was awarded OBE ‘for services to development awareness’.

He is well-remembered in Oxford where, from 2001 to 2007, he was Director of Studies and led the Reuters Institute Journalism Programme becoming also an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College. He was also a Trustee of the Equal Rights Trust and of the Geddes Trust which advances student journalism in Oxford.

Wherever he worked, Paddy was much loved and highly regarded. He brought his rich reserves of wisdom, experience and knowledge into play as a supporter of the FJA.

His open-hearted and expansive personality made him a great colleague to work with, but he was steely in his defence of professionalism in journalism.

He threw himself into difficult internal discussions over ethical dilemmas faced by the FJA over entries when questions of integrity, political pressure or journalistic behaviour were raised.

He engaged passionately, argued intelligently and drew uncrossable red lines. He helped ensure that independence and professionalism were always the impregnable principles guiding our work and for that we are indebted to him. We shall miss him terribly.

The thoughts of all of his friends at the FJA are with his family and to them we send condolences.