Al Jazeera: Pride and Privilege
Members of the jury represented a wide spectrum of the journalism and media industry, including Xinhua News Agency, Associated Press, AFP, Polish Press Agency, Russian News Agency, Japan’s Kyodo, and many others. Proceedings commenced with a brief address from the Director of Xinhua and Exective President of WMS, who laid out the rules and criteria of the award. It was followed by 15-minute video snippets of the shortlisted finalists in each category. A month earlier, each of the jury members had had the chance to examine all the full-version submissions. Then, it was time for the final voting via the electronic devices. After each voting round, a countdown was displayed on a giant screen in the centre of the hall before the final outcome was decided. With an almost unanimous vote, Al Jazeera’s 101 East won gold in the Exemplary News Team in Developing Countries. Even before the decision was made, I had been overwhelmed with joy and pride that we had come that far. On that day, Al Jazeera was the only media organisation whose name appeared more than once on that stage. With four awards, the event was proof that Al Jazeera had gained global recognition for its professionalism and balance.
Every time Al Jazeera was announced as a winner amid raucous applause, all the conferees looked at me. I could not interpret their expressions: admiration, envy, surprise, or a mixture of these? On the flight back to Doha, I began to trace back the trip from the beginning. Flipping through the journey’s successive scenes, I came to one conclusion: Al Jazeera has established its position at the forefront of the media landscape by virtue of its daring and objective journalism. Three months later, I was in Beijing again for the WMS Award Ceremony. This time accompanied by the winning entries: Al Jazeera English’s 101 East producer, Sharon Roobol; Al Jazeera Arabic’s Naser Shadid; Mohammed Al Haddad of the Al Jazeera English website; and Al Jazeera America’s Lam Thai Phu. For 25 years, Al Jazeera has been targeted, its offices bombarded, its journalists killed, hounded, and arbitrarily detained. However, Al Jazeera has never lost sight of its mission and guiding values. As a phenomenon in the media industry, Al Jazeera has been the subject of myriad multilingual studies compiled by experts and academics. It has also gained global recognition and won multiple awards. To be part of Al Jazeera is for me a pride and privilege.
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