“That is not the reality that I have seen,” Esther Garvi (The Famine Scam)

The Norwegian documentary The Famine Scam recently received the top Norwegian journalism award for its “extensive research” and “critique of power”. Here is a translation of the article entitled “Critique of Power”, published by Journalisten on May 6th 2009.

Award for Critique of Power

 

BERGEN (The Journalist): TV2 is awarded the Great Journalism Prize for their documentary ‘The Famine Scam’.

 

“We are thrilled, of course, and very proud. We’re still surprised, even though we’ve known about it for a while. It was very nice for TV2, as this is the first time that the channel wins such an award. This is huge!” says journalist Per Christian Magnus.

 

The BBC Dispute

 

Together with photographer Robert Reinlund and researcher Anne Marie Groth, Magnus was awarded the Great Journalism Prize for the documentary that was broadcasted on TV2 in March last year.

 

“We actually spent an entire year working on the documentary. In February 2007, we traveled to Niger to find the white trucks that the Red Cross and the Foreign Department had sent down there in 2005. When we asked around about the famine, people just shrugged their shoulders, not recognizing this description. And so a documentary was born.”

 

‘The Famine Scam’ critically examines how the situation in Niger was described by aid organizations and the authorities, as well as how it was covered by the BBC.

This has led to sharp reactions from the BBC.

 

In November last year, the British Broadcasting Corporation refused to answer critical questions about their own broadcast. Furthermore, the BBC denied the Norwegian TV2 permission to use images from reports made by their correspondent in 2005. This made it difficult for TV2 to broadcast the documentary abroad.

 

Thorough work

 

The Jury is impressed by the thorough research behind the documentary:

 

“This year, the Great Journalism Prize goes to a work of exposure. It is based on extraordinarily extensive and critically reflecting work. The information has been gathered over a long period of time and from several continents. With critique of power as its perspective, the documentary challenges the credibility of two powerful voices that are used to being listened to, namely the BBC and the previous under-secretary general of the UN, Jan Egeland.”

 

According to the Jury, the fact that the BBC would work against the documentary only strengthens the position of ‘The Famine Scam’ as the award winner.

 

“The documentary also brings out a lack of tolerance by the media itself for being subjected to scrutiny.”

 

The Jury further states that the nominations to this award and others indicate that much of the high-quality journalism is now represented by television.

 

“This is a huge recognition for our work and very important for our industry. It is an award that brings together many elements and it is the greatest recognition we have experienced as journalists, says Magnus on behalf of his fellow award-winners.

 

By Martin Huseby Jensen