Al Jazeera Investigative Unit wins Kennedy Award

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has won the “Outstanding Investigative Reporting” prize at the Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

The award was accepted by executive producer Peter Charley at a ceremony in Sydney on August 9. The NMRA Kennedy Awards recognizes the best journalism published in Australia and Al Jazeera was the only international broadcaster to be honoured.

The two-part documentary series, How to Sell a Massacre, revealed attempts by Australia’s populist party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, to gain funding from the National Rifle Association of America and other pro-gun organizations in the United States.

Australia has strict gun control laws, which were introduced following a mass shooting in 1996 when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site inTasmania.

Al Jazeera’s investigation triggered front-page headlines in Australia and news coverage around the world. Material gathered during the investigation resulted in the resignation of a senate candidate who was also senior confidant of Pauline Hanson.

Acting Director of Investigative Journalism, Phil Rees, described the award as ‘a great achievement that validates the Investigative Unit’s bold journalism’.

The investigation was also nominated in the “Scoop of the Year” category and Peter Charley was honoured with a “Journalist of the Year" nomination.