Al Jazeera To Reap Big From The Kenyan Exposé That Sent Shockwaves Across The World
Sometimes in December last year, Doha-based international broadcaster, Aljazeera, ran an investigative piece that drew attention from all quarters.
Al Jazeera’s exposé on killer Kenyan cops went viral the moment it hit the screens. Kenyans were perplexed by how cops were executing extrajudicial killings.
Even though Aljazeera was just exposing the rot within the country’s law enforcement apparatus, the government said the exposé was meant to dent the reputation of Kenya.
The government then responded by threatened to sue Al Jazeera for what it termed as malicious and false information that was aimed at escalating further the already volatile level of security in the country.
See also: War Of Words, Al Jazeera Responds After Threats From The Government
While the dust settled on the exposé, Al Jazeera is set to reap from it. The station has been nominated for seven One World Media Awards and the Kenyan exposé was among the investigative pieces that earned Al Jazeera a nomination slot.
Below are the categories which Al Jazeera’s has been nominated for their investigative pieces:
Television Award
In Inside Kenya’s Death Squads, officers from four units of Kenya’s counter-terrorism strategy admitted the police assassinate suspects on government orders. According to one officer, police eliminations could run into the hundreds every year. President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Security Council members denied running an extrajudicial killing programme.
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Corruption Reporting
In Africa Investigates: Uganda’s Temple of Injustice, Ugandan journalist Emmanuel Mutaizibwa led a team of reporters who went undercover inside Uganda’s court system to reveal the price of justice, exposing a chain of corrupting that is rotting the country’s judiciary to its core.
Documentary Award
Miners Shot Down, directed by South African Rehad Desai, screened on Al Jazeera on the two-year anniversary of the Marikana massacre it investigates. In August 2012, mineworkers in Lonmin, one of South Africa’s biggest platinum mines, began a wildcat strike for better wages. Six days into the strike, the police used live ammunition to brutally suppress the strike, killing 34 and injuring many more. The police insisted that they shot in self-defense, but Miners Shot Down tells a different story.
Digital Media Award
Pirate Fishing is a groundbreaking gamification of current affairs, which allowed gamers to become an Al Jazeera journalist, gathering evidence and notes to build a case to expose the mult-million dollar illegal fishing trade in Sierra Leone. Pirate Fishing was based on a People & Power report by Juliana Ruhfus. Women’s Rights in Africa Award
Al Jazeera has two nominations in the Woman’s Rights in Africa category, for Rosa Rogers’ Casablanca Calling and for Jessica Vale’s Small Small Thing: The Olivia Zinnah Story.
New Voice Award
Al Jazeera America’s Matt Sandy is nominated for the New Voice Award for a young filmmaker or journalist working in any medium who has made a substantial contribution to international journalism during the year.
