Al Jazeera’s Investigative Programmes: An Eye Opener
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Programmes: An Eye Opener Ibrahim Hamdan | Director of Programmes, Al Jazeera News Channel
The rapid advancement of technology played a key part in investigative reporting. With a few gadgets, an investigative journalist can complete their work, from the research stage to filming. Whistleblowing, leaked materials, and covert filming are also the product of advanced technology.
It was May 2013, and it was time to air the first of ‘The Black Box’ investigative series. The episode titled ‘Flight 1103’ was exceptional, compared to the many documentaries I have overseen throughout my career. It investigated the crash of the Libyan Airlines Flight 1103, a Boeing 727 with 157 people on board, said to have collided with a MiG32 jetfighter on December 22, 1992. A year earlier, our investigative unit was seeking a new springboard for intensively expository and investigative documentaries, which have always been part and parcel of Al Jazeera’s programmes. At that time, I recall, some colleagues advised us to limit our efforts to cooperating with foreign journalists, amid the deteriorating regional conditions. However, it was the encouragement of management that granted us the impetus to invest in and employ our own resources. As the episode drew to a close, many minor details kept rolling over in my head. I came to the conclusion that Al Jazeera’s investigative documentaries have ushered in a new era.
The key challenge we faced at that time was to offer exceptional content, embarking on what Al Jazeera had started. Amid the growing tensions and conflicts within the region, our work had become extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, every cloud has a silver lining and these harsh conditions opened new horizons for us. We put in place more innovative strategies and subtle tactics. Not only did the unit deploy daring field journalists, but also joined forces with ethically-bound independent filmmakers. The outcome was matchless at the regional and international levels. With the Arab Spring tide washing away some totalitarian regimes in the region, the ceiling of freedom was heightened, especially with the widespread use of social platforms. This mandated a wider and deeper scope of investigation; from the hidden secrets of corrupt dictators and their entourages to events that had been shrouded in mystery. The beginning of the new era was marked by the exposure of the truth behind the death of the late Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat. Many milestone episodes followed, including the Black Box series.
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