AJ+ journalist Bisan Atef Owda’s hard-hitting documentary It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive won the award for Outstanding Hard News Feature: Short Form at the Emmys last night, overcoming a campaign led by entertainment industry non-profit Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) to have the nomination rescinded.
The eight-minute documentary, which depicts the brutal reality of Palestinians living in Gaza under ongoing Israeli attacks, received criticism for Owda’s alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is regarded as a terrorist organisation in the United States.
Just five days ago, the Emmys’ organising body – the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) – doubled down on its decision not to rescind Owda’s nomination, finding that any documented ties between Owda and the PFLP occurred “between six and nine years ago”, when Owda was still a teenager.
Moreover, the body insisted that “the content submitted for award consideration was consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies. Accordingly, NATAS has found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgement of the independent journalists who reviewed the material.”
While Owda was not present to accept the award, the documentary’s producer Jon Laurence stated that “this award is testimony to the power of one woman armed with only an iPhone”. He also took the opportunity to draw attention to the number of journalists that have been killed while reporting in the region, and to emphasise that “journalism is not a crime”.
The award follows the documentary’s previous recognition by the Peabody Awards. Owda had previously built a strong following on social media for his reports in the region, and has also worked with the United Nations on issues surrounding women’s rights in Palestine.
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