Al Jazeera English wins New York Press Club Award

Press release

Published June 14th, 2011 - 01:37 GMT

Al Jazeera English offices in Doha

New York Press Club has awarded Al Jazeera English the “Best News Videography of a Breaking Story by an Individual or Crew” in the Spot News Video category. The award will be presented to Al Jazeera journalists Cath Turner, Alessandro Rampietti and Geoff Mills for their piece on "Haiti Cholera Protests.”

This prestigious award recognizes the best news videography of a breaking story by an individual or crew that was shot and aired within 24 hours of the story. It is the first time Al Jazeera English has won an award from the New York Press Club. Entries were judged by prominent working journalists or former journalists and academics and were selected for their expertise in each category. The crew accepted the award this evening at the New York Press Club’s annual awards gala held at the Water Club in New York City.

‘Haiti Cholera Protests’ featured reporting by Cath Turner, an Al Jazeera English reporter based in New York. In the build-up to the first round of Haitian elections in 2010, Cath and her crew reported on the ground from Cap-Hatien. With anti-UN protests, a deadly disease outbreak, and ongoing fallout from the earthquake and hurricane all during pre-election campaigning, Haiti was in a very critical and potentially dangerous situation. Cath along with Alessandro and Geoff took to the streets of Haiti to bring this volatile story to Al Jazeera’s audience worldwide in real-time.

Cath Turner stated, “We are very honored to have received this award tonight. Haiti has been such an important story for us during the recent difficulties it has been experiencing. It means a lot to have our work recognized and appreciated as it has been tonight.”

To view ‘Haiti Cholera Protests’ please follow the below link:

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/americas/2010/11/201011198102062157.html

Background Information

Al Jazeera Network

Al Jazeera started out more than fourteen years ago as the first independent Arabic news channel in the world dedicated to providing comprehensive television news and live debate for the Arab world. Al Jazeera was formally named the Al Jazeera Network in March 2006, transforming its operation into an international media corporation.

The Al Jazeera Network now consists of the flagship Al Jazeera Satellite (Arabic) channel, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Documentary, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera.net (the English and Arabic web sites), the Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), and Al Jazeera Mobile.

Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, is headquartered in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The organisation is the world's first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. From this unique position, Al Jazeera English is destined to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The channel aims to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions.

With broadcasting centres in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC and supporting bureaux worldwide, the channel will set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from under-reported regions around the world to a potential global audience of over one billion English speakers. The station broadcasts news, current affairs, features, analysis, documentaries, live debates, entertainment, business and sport.

Building on Al Jazeera Arabic channel's ground breaking developments in the Arab and Muslim world that have changed the face of news within the Middle East, Al Jazeera English is part of a growing network that is now extending this fresh perspective from regional to global through accurate, impartial and objective reporting.