The WKU School of Media & Communication will honor investigative journalist Anabel Hernández with the 2025 Fleischaker-Greene Award for Courageous International Reporting.
The Fleischaker-Greene Award was created by donors Jon Fleischaker and Kim Greene to recognize journalists who exhibit extraordinary courage in reporting on international issues.
As part of the award tradition, Hernández will visit with WKU classes to discuss investigative journalism and press freedom, according to a press release from the WKU School of Media & Communication.
“Hernández, one of Mexico’s leading investigative journalists, has dedicated more than three decades to exposing drug cartels, government corruption, human rights violations and abuses of power,” the press release stated.
Numerous international publications have featured Hernández’s work, including The Guardian, Le Monde, The New York Times and Deutsche Welle. She is the author of several books, including “Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords” and “Their Godfathers and A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty-Three.”
Hernández’s bestseller, “Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords,” has become a global reference for investigative journalism on organized crime and corruption, according to a biography shared by Gordon “Mac” McKerral, the WKU journalism program coordinator.
In her investigation, Hernández exposed how Mexico’s former Federal Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna – the country’s most powerful police officer – colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel.
In retaliation against her reporting, García Luna and his associates orchestrated a plan to assassinate her. The biography states García Luna became the first high-ranking Mexican official to be convicted of drug trafficking in the Eastern District Court of New York.
McKerral said Hernández’s work is especially prevalent with the current conversation surrounding U.S. immigration.
“Right now, we have a lot of things going on politically that are tied to things she is investigating,” McKerral said.
McKerral said students in the School of Media & Communication, Modern Languages Department, Political Science Department and more can benefit from hearing from Hernández.
There will be a reception on Tuesday, April 15, on the second floor of Jody Richards Hall from 5 to 6 p.m. before the 6:15 p.m. awards presentation at the Gary Ransdell Hall Auditorium.
