Al Jazeera wins award for Dreamliner investigation

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit was presented with the AIB International Current Affairs Documentary award for its film ‘Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787’ at a ceremony in London last night.

“Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787” is the most exhaustive investigation of Boeing’s high-profile aircraft yet produced.   Starting with the battery failures that caused an unprecedented grounding of the 787 fleet in January 2013, “Broken Dreams” explores how Boeing’s flagship product went alarmingly wrong.  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.

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit was also highly commended in the International Investigative Documentary category for ‘Inside Kenya’s Death Squads’.  The unit investigated allegations that Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit is running an extrajudicial killing programme to “eliminate” radical Muslims. The Al Jazeera team spoke exclusively to members of the police death squads who carry out the hits.

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 AIBs were presented at a gala dinner attended by  journalists, editors, producers and directors representing countries across four continents. The Association for International Broadcasting is an industry association and global knowledge network for the international broadcasting industry with members from all around the world. 

LINKS:

http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/boeing787/

http://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/KenyaDeathSquads/

CREDITS:

Al Jazeera Investigates - Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787

Produced and directed by Marc Shaffer.

Reporter: Will Jordan

Photography and Editing: Colin McIntyre

Assistant Producer: Kevin Hirten

Executive Producer: Phil Rees