Al Jazeera documentary wins Peabody Award

March 27, 2012 – Al Jazeera and Just Vision’s documentary collaboration, Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood has been awarded the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award from the University of Georgia. Airing on Al Jazeera English’s documentary programme, Witness, it tells the story of a young Palestinian teenager who finds unexpected allies after his family is evicted from their East Jerusalem home by Israeli settlers.

Paul Eedle, Director of Programmes at Al Jazeera English welcomed this accolade, stating, “We are proud that our long-running Witness strand of observational documentaries was able to offer a broadcast outlet to this moving and important film. Telling the stories of people across the world whose voices might not otherwise be heard is central to our mission.”

Directors of the documentary, Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi, remarked, “We are humbled and overjoyed by this recognition. It is tremendously rewarding to see the story of a Palestinian teenager touching so many hearts in the United States. We hope Mohammed’s story will help bring attention to the urgent crisis posed by Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and support for the Palestinians and Israelis who are struggling nonviolently to stop more Palestinian families from losing their homes.”

Al Jazeera won a Peabody last year for its news coverage of the Arab Awakening. Recently, the network received the United Nations Correspondents Association Award for its coverage of the cholera outbreak in Haiti as well as The Gracies from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for the network’s social television programme, The Stream.

In 2012, Al Jazeera was honored with a George Polk Award, a Scripps Howard Award, the Grand Prize at The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism, Foreign Press Association Award for its documentary film:  Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark. Additionally, the network received the News Channel of the Year from the Royal Television Society.

For more information on Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood, please visit: http://aje.me/HgRCCD