The BBC’s Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison was this week the winner of second place in the category “Radio Journalism of the Year” in the Sony Radio Academy Awards.
According to one of his BBC Jerusalem Bureau colleagues, the award was given for his “brilliant, balanced & brave coverage of Gaza”.
According to the description on the Sony Radio Academy Awards website:
“The Sony Radio Academy Awards, now in their 31st year, are without doubt the most prestigious awards in the radio industry’s calendar and the only event that brings the entire sector together to celebrate outstanding content and creativity.”
“Creativity” is certainly one way of describing the passing off a photograph taken in Syria as having been shot in Gaza. Even more “creative” and “outstanding” was Donnison’s portrayal of the death of the child of a BBC colleague as the result of Israeli actions without any proof of that assertion and when in fact the tragic incident was later shown to have been caused by a terrorist missile fired from inside Gaza itself.
Readers may perhaps not be surprised to learn that of the eight members of the Sony Radio Academy Awards selection committee, three are current BBC employees (here, here and here) and two are former BBC employees.
The media industry of course does itself no favours in the eyes of the general public by rewarding the failure to adhere to basic standards of accuracy, impartiality, honesty and – above all – self-criticism.
