Al Jazeera English channel’s 'Fault Lines' programme has been awarded the prestigious Emmy award in the category of ‘Outstanding Investigative Report in a Newsmagazine’ for its film ‘Adoption Inc’, at the 40th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York, US.
The film investigated how the demand in US families seeking to adopt from Uganda has paved the way for exploitation and fraud, Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement.
Commenting on winning the award, correspondent and producer of the programme Anna Cavell said: "Many times, over the course of 10 years reporting from East Africa, I’ve seen the harm caused to Africans by the good intentions of people in the developed world. I hope this award will help raise awareness about the potential problems with adopting children from countries with weak institutions."
Laila al-Arian, executive producer of the 'Fault Lines' programme, noted: “We are so grateful to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Emmys judges for this tremendous honour and for the Ugandan mothers who opened up to us to tell their stories of painful, years-long separation from their children as a result of an ‘adoption industry’ desperately in need of more oversight and regulation.”
The award-winning team consisted of Cavell, cinematographer and producer Singeli Agnew, editor Adrienne Haspel, senior producer Hanaan Sarhan, al-Arian and Diarmuid Jeffreys. The film was a collaboration with Type Investigations (formerly The Investigative Fund).
Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said: “We are delighted to receive this prestigious award, which is a testament to the quality of our journalism and the talent of our teams.”
Al Jazeera English "is a highly decorated news channel having received numerous awards", the statement notes. These include a 2018 Peabody Award for its documentary ‘The Cut’; a 2018 Emmy for its programme ‘Fault Lines’; and 18 gold medals at this year’s New York Festivals awards ceremony where it was also named ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ for the third consecutive year.