Najib’s interview beats Cliff Richard’s in bagging ‘Interview of the Year’ award.
Broadcaster Al Jazeera‘s interview with former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak won the ‘Interview of the Year’ prize at the Royal Television Society Television Awards 2019.
The interview by Mary Ann Jolley in the 101 East Al Jazeera English programme titled ‘Malaysia: Najib Speaks’ won the award beating two others – privacy campaigner Max Mosley for Channel 4, and British singer Sir Cliff Richard for ITV.
101 East Al-Jazeera, in a tweet, wrote “@AJ101East is thrilled to announce we’ve been awarded Interview of the Year at the prestigious @RTS_media Awards in London. Watch @jolleyma’s interview with former Malaysia PM @NajibRazak here: http://aje.io/najib ”
On the website for the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2019, the jury noted that all three nominees for “Interview of the Year” category were “great examples of the interviewer’s craft”.
“But one interview stood out for its courage, tenacity and sheer unadulterated watchability – ‘Malaysia: Najib Speaks’.
“Although the story focused on an issue few would have known about prior to the interview, this did not detract from the viewer’s ability to understand the jaw-dropping venality of the interviewee,” the jury said.
“The interviewer’s forensic approach was compelling, her knowledge formidable and her ability to combine persistence with grace quite extraordinary,” it added when describing Jolley.
In October last year, when the interview was being recorded, an incensed Najib lost his cool as he was grilled over matters like the notorious “pink diamond” and scandal-plagued 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
However, he later apologised for his outburst, claiming that he was concerned for his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and his sons, Norashman and Riza Aziz, who were being questioned by the police at that time.
Jolley later expressed surprise that Najib was allegedly not more prepared for the interview.
The 25 minutes-odd video clip of the interview which was posted on Al Jazeera English’s official Youtube page has over one million views and 11,000 likes at the time of writing.