United States Agency for Global Media

MBN’s documentary series Delusional Paradise won the Silver Award at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards. The winning episode, “Arraqah Screams…I Am Not Daesh,” won in the category of Best Current Affairs, Human Concerns & Social Issues documentary.

The award was received for its informative production that examined the plight of Cubans trying to flee to the United States.

Voice of America reporter Ibrahim Ahmed is among the recipients of the 2015 David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, announced December 16 in Washington. The awards honor the courage, integrity and professionalism of individuals in reporting the news on U.S. government international media. Ahmed, a journalist with VOA’s Hausa Service, spent weeks traveling through Nigeria’s Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states during the height of Boko Haram terror attacks in early- 2015. The extremist group, now allied with ISIL, has killed or kidnapped thousands of Nigerians. Ahmed’s daily on-the-scene coverage in English and in his native Hausa language brought stories of survival and resistance to audiences on VOA digital platforms, and radio and television broadcasts across Africa and around the world. Ahmed faced considerable danger after extremists condemned his reporting, forcing him never to sleep in the same place twice while on the lengthy assignment. “I feel that I have the obligation to bring the story to the world,” Ahmed said. “I was born and grew up in this part of Nigeria where, because of vicious attacks by Boko Haram, people are being killed and displaced, the economy is devastated.” Ahmed’s comprehensive coverage of the country’s historic elections featured interviews with voters, party leaders, a former military ruler, the vice president, and Nigeria’s winning presidential candidate — Muhammadu Buhari.  Ahmed also organized broadcast town hall meetings with youth leaders and election commission officials to discuss ways to prevent a reoccurrence of post-election violence in Kaduna state. Quoting from the citation recognizing Ahmed’s service, Acting VOA Director Kelu Chao noted that Ibrahim Ahmed’s journalistic integrity exemplifies “dedication to the advancement of the cause of freedom and democracy.” She added, “I am impressed with Ibrahim’s courage and commitment to reporting on such a difficult subject.  He literally risked his life to bring to a wide audience the human story of the devastation caused by these terrorists.  His stories had great impact.” Also honored with Burke Awards were the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani Service Baku Bureau; Alhurra documentary producers Leila Bazzi, Pierre Jad and Georges Chawah of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks; Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service reporter Shohret Hoshur; and engineer Jose Alpizar of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

An unflinching portrait of one of the epic battles in the war between Russia and Ukraine has been named the Best Non-Fiction Short TV Film in Russia’s prestigious ArtDocFest film festival, and brought new recognition to Current Time’s intrepid journalistic team. “Airport Donetsk,” conceived by Shahida Tulaganova and directed by Andrey Erastov, traces the contours of the 200-day fight for the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Raw footage and deeply personal interviews portray the last days of the battle as the airport falls to the separatists. The film features the testimony of commanders and fighters on both sides, and is told in their words. In awarding the prize, ArtDocFest Director Vitaliy Manskii said “Airport Donetsk” was one of the most emotionally strong films of this year. The film’s Executive Editor, Kenan Aliyev, described it as “a raw portrait of war…that will challenge audiences on both sides of the battlefield.” Vice News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky called it “a microcosm of the war that anyone wanting to understand the tragedy of Ukraine should watch.” ArtDocFest, the Open Russian Documentary Film Festival that launched in Moscow in 2007, is the largest international gathering of Russian-language documentary films, attracting approximately 20,000 filmgoers, filmmakers, and guests annually.  The Festival’s Laurel Branch prizes in the field of documentary film and television are awarded in nine categories. “Airport Donetsk” is a production of Current Time TV.

RFE/RL’s Persian language service was lauded in New York this week as Radio Farda journalist Roya Karimi Majd’s special report “Tradition of the Blade” won a gold award, and Kambiz Hosseini’s weekly show “Five in the Afternoon” took home a silver award at the 2015 New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards. “Tradition of the Blade” (excerpt here), a program about female genital mutilation in Iran that Karimi Majd called “one of the hardest and most painful reports that I have produced in more than 20 years of working on women’s issues,” was recognized in the Information/Documentary Magazine Format category. Hosseini’s program, which is a joint production with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and airs on Radio Farda’s satellite stream, was entered in the Entertainment/Best Regularly Scheduled Comedy Program category. Although broadcast on Radio Farda, these stories are officially banned in Iran. RFE/RL Editor-in-Chief Nenad Pejic congratulated Karimi Majd and Hosseini on their awards. “They have produced excellent content that has earned the admiration of their audiences in Iran and their peers in the radio community,” said Pejic. “Roya’s report sensitively and powerfully exposes a taboo subject, while Kambiz’s work uses satire to help Iranians make sense of their often senseless circumstances.” The 2015 New York Festivals radio awards program recognized programming from 32 countries. The honors were presented at a gala dinner in the city on June 22, 2015. RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, produced in and broadcast from Prague, is a leading source of uncensored information in Iran. In May 2015, Radio Farda’s website was visited more than 20 million times, nearly 40 million pages were viewed, and its streaming audio feed was used more than 20 million times. Despite the government’s ban on listening, the need for a proxy, and deliberately slow Internet speeds to deter users, half of all traffic originates from within Iran.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) last night won a bronze medal at the New York Festivals’ 2015 International Radio Program Awards for its Cantonese Service’s investigative series on China’s nuclear energy risks. Titled, “A Citizenry Left in the Dark: China’s Nuclear Power Industry,” the series follows on RFA’s revelations in June 2010 when a nuclear power plant in close proximity to Hong Kong leaked radioactive material. It won in the juried contest’s category of Best Investigative Reporting. “This award helps to underscore an important issue of safety for the millions in China who live and work near nuclear plants,” said Libby Liu, President of RFA. “The tireless work of Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese Service brings this story to the people who would otherwise be left in the dark by Chinese state-controlled media and officials. “The continued recognition of this story also inspires us at RFA to continue bringing news to people in Asia who would otherwise not be able to access uncensored, accurate journalism.” In June 2010, radioactive substances were detected in cooling water at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in southern Guangdong, China’s most populous province. After RFA Cantonese broke the story, local authorities claimed that the danger to the public was “negligible.” Four years after the incident, an RFA undercover film crew traveled to the site to investigate safety conditions in the area. RFA’s team learned that local residents remain woefully ignorant of the danger of nuclear waste, even though waste from the power plant is dumped at a site that is five kilometers from where they live. RFA found also that, in order to prevent the rise of popular discontent in the aftermath of the 2010 radioactive leak, local authorities have been providing generous monthly living subsidies to those living within the immediate vicinity of the plant to quell discontent and concerns among locals. RFA’s four-part multimedia series, which aired in four parts in December 2014, also explores safety issues surrounding Guangdong’s Huizhou Nuclear Power Plant, one of 26 nuclear power plants under construction in China. The majority of local residents interviewed by RFA were only vaguely aware, if at all, of the existence of the nuclear plant, much less the health risks of living close by. China is in the midst of a serious push to expand its nuclear power industry to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. What is troubling, especially in the post-Fukushima era, is that there does not exist in the country a comprehensive national program to provide citizens with information on possible public health hazards in their communities; nor have the authorities established emergency plans and response mechanisms in the event of a nuclear accident. The award was presented at a ceremony in New York City. Earlier this year, the series also won a Sigma Delta Chi award, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists, in April. Other winners at New York Festivals included RFA sister broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Radio 4, RTE, and WNYC, among many other esteemed broadcasters from around the world.

Radio Sawa’s report on the humanitarian crisis facing Syrian children was awarded the Silver Medal in the New York Festivals’ 2015 International Radio Program in the Human Interest category.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) today was named a winner of the Sigma Delta Chi award for excellence in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists. RFA’s Cantonese Service’s investigative series on China’s nuclear energy risks, “A Citizenry Left in the Dark: China’s Nuclear Power Industry,” won in the category of radio investigative reporting. The series, which aired in four parts in December 2014, follows on RFA’s revelations in June 2010 when a nuclear power plant in close proximity to Hong Kong leaked radioactive material. “Millions in China live and work near nuclear plants but are left in the dark about the dangers,” said Libby Liu, President of RFA. “Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese Service tirelessly pursued this story in depth, reporting on the potentially catastrophic consequences ignored by China’s state-controlled media and authorities. “Credit for this great honor goes entirely to RFA Cantonese, which is bringing attention to a serious issue that has vast impact in China and the region.” In June 2010, radioactive substances were detected in cooling water at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in southern Guangdong, China’s most populous province. After RFA Cantonese broke the story, local authorities claimed that the danger to the public was “negligible.” Four years after the incident, an RFA undercover film crew traveled to the site to investigate safety conditions in the area. RFA’s team learned that local residents remain woefully ignorant of the danger of nuclear waste, even though waste from the power plant is dumped at a site that is five kilometers from where they live. RFA found also that, in order to prevent the rise of popular discontent in the aftermath of the 2010 radioactive leak, local authorities have been providing generous monthly living subsidies to those living within the immediate vicinity of the plant to quell discontent and concerns among locals. RFA’s four-part multimedia series also explores safety issues surrounding Guangdong’s Huizhou Nuclear Power Plant, one of 26 nuclear power plants under construction in China. The majority of local residents interviewed by RFA were only vaguely aware, if at all, of the existence of the nuclear plant, much less the health risks of living close by. China is in the midst of a serious push to expand its nuclear power industry to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. What is troubling, especially in the post-Fukushima era, is that there does not exist in the country a comprehensive national program to provide citizens with information on possible public health hazards in their communities; nor have the authorities established emergency plans and response mechanisms in the event of a nuclear accident. Previous years’ contest winners in radio include CBS News Radio, CNN Radio, Public Radio International’s The World (WGBH), and National Public Radio. This occasion marks the first time RFA has won a Sigma Delta Chi. Awards will be presented to recipients at a reception to be held on June 26 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.