|
The
Rory Peck Awards Finalists 2002
THE RORY PECK AWARD
FOR HARD NEWS
This award honours freelance coverage of an event where the focus is on
the immediacy of the action. The panel was chaired by Mark Damazer, Deputy
Head of News, BBC.
Joseph McCarthy "World Trade Center Attack, 9-11-01"
As the first tower
collapsed, freelance cameraman McCarthy was separated from his crew. He
continued to film: people gaping at the sky in disbelief while worrying
about where to park their cars, ambulancemen not knowing which way to
turn, firemen gasping for breath. As the South Tower suddenly began to
collapse McCarthy, along with others, ran straight back to the front of
#1 Financial Center. There, trapped against the front glass window, they
were in danger of being killed from the tremendous amounts of collapsing
debris or from suffocation in the ash and dust. Joe McCarthy says "The
last thing I remember thinking was that I hope it didn't hurt too much
to die…"
Jules Naudet "Plane
hitting World Trade Center tower"
Jules Naudet was filming with rookie firefighters investigating a gas
leak at a street corner. On hearing a loud noise, he instinctively lifted
his camera, located the source of the noise, followed it and, with an
amazingly steady hand, captured the only picture of the first hijacked
plane crashing at 300mph into the World Trade Center. It may have been
pure chance - but as TV journalism it had a huge impact around the world.
As one of the judges commented: "Well, this is just THE shot isn't
it?"
Najibullah Quaraishi
"SAS in action in Afghanistan"
When fierce battle broke out at the Qala-I-Janghi fortress, western media
crews retreated to a building in an adjacent compound. Lone Afghan freelancer
Najibullah Quaraishi remained at his post on the ramparts for the next
six hours, filming the sustained battle - and showing for the first time
the full extent of SAS active involvement in combat. The following day,
as Najibullah joined a group of NA forces moving to enter the Taliban
compound, they came under mortar attack. Of the fourteen men in his group,
11 were killed and three injured. Najibullah received shrapnel wounds
to his head and remained in hospital for four days.
His footage later proved vital in telling the story of what actually happened
at the fort.
THE RORY PECK AWARD
FOR FEATURES
This award recognises originality of approach and storytelling, as well
as the versatility, determination and stamina of the multi-skilled freelancer.
This panel was chaired by Ann MacMillan, Bureau Chief, CBC.
Dodge Billingsley
and Damien Degueldre "House of War"
Dodge and Damien covered the battle of Qala-l-Jangi from start to finish,
capturing some of the most dramatic moments: Dostum's men fall back, outnumbered
by their prisoners; a Taliban prisoner blows himself up with a hand grenade;
a CIA operative in a state of shock claims he has had to kill some of
the attacking Talibans in order to escape; a US air strike goes very wrong
and a member of the Taliban turns out to be an American - John Walker
Lindh. One judge commented: "There is a terrible sense of tragedy
- people trying to do the right thing and it all going horribly wrong."
Elizabeth Jones
"Somalia: The Last Haven"
After the fall of Kabul, the American government named other countries
it believed harboured so-called terrorists. Somalia was at the top of
the list - an American attack seemed imminent. By the time reporter, Juliana
Ruhfus, and Elizabeth Jones arrived, all the western NGO's had pulled
out - there were no other Westerners operating on the ground to help them
with advice and security. They flew on a plane ferrying Qat (a local narcotic)
in from Kenya and arranged their security as best they could through a
local fixer. However, Mogadishu was extremely tense and as they arrived,
one of their hired bodyguards shot a man from a rival clan. The rival
clan then threatened an outright feud. Juliana and Elizabeth were forced
to stay in their hotel for several days for fear of attack.
Elizabeth Jones
and Stephen Finnigan "State of Terror"
The team, including reporter Deborah Davies, were based in Jerusalem.
One night, they heard that Israeli forces were going to launch an attack
on Palestinian targets in Hebron. Although it was an hour and a half away,
they decided to make a dash for it. They hired a Palestinian driver who
knew the back routes. When it became too unsafe for him to carry on, he
called ahead and arranged for a friend of his to collect them on the road.
The team stayed in a deserted Palestinian-run hotel, and the attack began
at 3am. Next morning, they witnessed Israeli soldiers rounding up Palestinian
men, visited the hospital to count the dead and wounded, and chased the
continuing tank fire.
|
|