Al Jazeera scoops top documentary award
November 05, 2015 Television
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit scooped the award for best International Current Affairs Documentary at the Association for International Broadcasting Awards in London last night.
The winning film, Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787, is an exhaustive investigation of how Boeing's flagship product went alarmingly wrong, starting with the battery failures that caused an unprecedented grounding of the 787 fleet in January 2013. The film includes shocking new revelations about the safety and quality of the aircraft, including testimony from workers who say they are afraid to fly the plane that they build.
Both Sky News Arabia and Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit were highly commended in the International Investigative Documentary category: Al Jazeera for Inside Kenya's Death Squads, which investigated allegations that Kenya's Anti-Terrorism Police Unit is running an extrajudicial killing programme to "eliminate" radical Muslims; and Sky News Arabia for Death Boats: The Migration Dream and the Smuggling Nightmare, which narrates the story of Lebanese migrants who set sail to Australia in September 2013 only to face tragedy when 20 of them drowned at sea.
Al Jazeera English was also highly commended for its coverage of the Nepal earthquake. The disaster of April 25 was a tremendous test for news organisations, but within hours viewers could turn to Al Jazeera to see regular updates from correspondents in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.
The real story of the earthquake was the human tragedy that it caused, killing thousands of people and leaving many more homeless and destitute. Al Jazeera reflected this in its powerful news coverage, but also in two special programmes marking one week and one month after the disaster.
The Association for International Broadcasting was established in 1993 and has 49 Arab and international media organisations as members. Its annual awards recognise content that reflects current social issues presented on television, radio, and online platforms.
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