Palestinian Journalist Wins Emmy Award

Nurah Tape, The Palestine Chronicle, September 26, 2024

‘This award is testimony to the power of one woman armed only with an iPhone who survived almost a year of bombardment.”

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has won an Emmy award for her documentary produced by Al Jazeera’s AJ+ titled ‘It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive.’

This comes despite a call from a pro-Israel organization, endorsed by more than 150 actors and producers, to revoke the 25-year-old’s short film nomination in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story category.

The eight-minute documentary follows Owda’s journey as she is forced to leave her home in Gaza City after October 7 and is displaced several times amidst Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the Strip.

‘Journalism Not a Crime’

‘This award is testimony to the power of one woman armed only with an iPhone who survived almost a year of bombardment,” John Lawrence, senior executive producer for AJ+ Reports, said as he accepted the award on Owda’s behalf at the prize ceremony.

Lawrence pointed out that over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza “including several of our Al Jazeera colleagues.”

“Our bureau in the occupied West Bank was shut down at gunpoint just last week”, he added.

“We thank you, our journalistic community, for this recognition for Bisan and the AJ+ team and we urge you to join us in saying that journalism is not a crime.”

‘Terrorist’ Allegations

Last month, the Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) organization alleged that Owda had “documented ties” to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), “a United States-designated terrorist organization.”

The non-profit also accused Owda of having “disseminated antisemitic content” and said the “Emmys cannot allow their prestigious award show to be hijacked by terrorists.”

In response, NATAS CEO and President Adam Sharp said in a letter that the News & Documentary Emmys “have recognized excellence in television journalism for nearly half a century.”

He said some of the “honored programs and reports” have “been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent.

“But all have been in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story,” Sharp emphasized.

He pointed out that in every case, submissions to the News & Documentary Emmys are judged by experienced journalists from across multiple news organizations, serving in an independent, volunteer capacity.

Independent Judges

‘It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive’, Sharp said, was reviewed by two successive panels of independent judges, including senior editorial leadership from each significant US broadcast news network.

“It was selected for nomination from among more than 50 submissions in one of the year’s most competitive categories,” he noted.

The piece was also recognized for journalistic achievement by the Peabody Awards and the Edward R Murrow Awards, “each administered by processes and organizations wholly separate from and independent of NATAS and the News & Documentary Emmys.”

At the time Al Jazeera also defended Owda in what the network called “efforts to silence her reporting from Gaza.”

In a statement the network said the allegations were “baseless” and “an attempt to silence Bisan, and present a real threat to her safety on the ground.“

Al Jazeera said the call for the Emmy nomination to be rescinded was “nothing more than an attempt to deny an important perspective to the global audience on the war and its devastating impact on innocent civilians.”

Since October 7, more than 100 journalists have been killed in Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

‘Murdered While Working’

On Thursday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) held protests in ten countries “to honor the 130+ journalists killed by the Israeli army and demand protection for their colleagues.”

“Since October 7, the Israeli army has killed over 130 journalists in the Palestinian enclave, at least 32 of whom were murdered while working,” RSF said in a statement.

“With this global awareness campaign, RSF aims to alert the international public to the gravity of this crisis: the alarming rate at which these journalists are being killed is jeopardising the right to free and independent information.”

Blood-Covered Press Vests

The protests were to be held all day long in ten countries: Germany, Brazil, Spain, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Senegal, Switzerland, Taïwan and Tunisia.

The organization said “press vests covered in blood – symbolising the horrifying number of journalists who paid with their lives for their commitment to keeping the world informed – will be placed in emblematic locations” in each of these countries, such as Liberty Square in Taipei, in front of London’s Big Ben, in front of The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, and near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

RSF said a shared message will appear on large banners at each protest: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed.”

– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.