CNA wins Best News Explainer at AIB Awards in London for video on Israel-Gaza war

SINGAPORE: For its in-depth look at the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, CNA was honoured at this year’s AIBs, an international awards competition organised by the London-based Association for International Broadcasting (AIB).
CNA’s “Israel-Hamas War – The Occupation Of West Bank” came out tops in the News Explainer category in the video section, beating competition from Bloomberg, CNN as well as Al Jazeera, which also submitted its own explainer on the Israel-Hamas war. 
It was one of two awards picked up by CNA, which is an English language Asian news network based in Singapore.
The award ceremony, which took place in London on Friday (Nov 22), was hosted by CNA presenter Otelli Edwards. The competition attracts entries from major global newsrooms.  
CNA’s winning entry was the third episode of an eight-part series on the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct 7, 2023. The series premiered in January this year. 
“Israel-Hamas War – The Occupation Of West Bank” highlights the impact of Israeli settlers on Palestinians, and looks at the construction of Israeli settlements and the violence between settlers and Palestinians. 
The episode also examines the international community’s role in the conflict and its impact on the daily lives of Palestinians.
The series looked at many other aspects of the conflict, including tracing the tensions since the 1917 Balfour Declaration, past attempts at peace, what happened on Oct 7 last year, who is Hamas, whether international law has been violated and the role of Iran. 
In the process of production, the CNA team interviewed 40 people of a dozen different nationalities comprising academics, former diplomats, former United Nations rapporteurs, aid workers, and people living in the West Bank. It also examined more than 200 documents from archives dating back to the 1900s from various countries.
Mediacorp Editor-in-Chief Walter Fernandez said: “The eight-part video series on the Israel-Hamas war which CNA published on YouTube is the most important and challenging news explainer that we have ever done.
“It took a team of 10 producers and experienced senior editors more than three months to do the research, source footage, produce graphics as well as edit the scripts and videos.
“This explainer series helped CNA’s local, regional and global audiences better understand the historical and geopolitical context leading up to the horrific attack by Hamas and Israel’s retaliation. Explainers such as this one – done professionally and objectively – are testament to the continued relevance and value of public service media such as CNA.” 
The AIB judges said that CNA’s entry did an excellent job, were impressed by the footage and effective use of maps, and that the production examined in great depth the situation in the West Bank.
“It provided a vivid picture of the circumstances of people living in the area. The episode was presented in an accessible way and had a logical flow to it – just what a News Explainer should do,” they said.
Watch the full series on the Israel-Hamas war on YouTube.
The Association for International Broadcasting was established in 1993, and its membership comprises major broadcasters worldwide. The AIBs “recognise the highest standards in journalism and factual productions across TV, radio and digital platforms”, according to its website. CNA was named Channel of the Year in 2020 by AIB.
For this year’s awards, CNA also won in the investigative documentary category for a programme on toxic medicine that killed hundreds of children worldwide.
The other entries were submitted by news outlets including the BBC, Deutsche Welle and the Financial Times.
“Undercover Asia – Tainted Medicine Scandal” investigates the role of pharmaceutical companies in the deaths of more than 300 children who consumed contaminated cough syrup manufactured in India and Indonesia.
The documentary, which premiered on Jul 10, 2023, also features Indonesian mothers going to court over the contaminated medicine and India’s probe into bribery claims in the toxic syrup tests.