Health-e News reports that its former TV journalist, Kyla Herrmannsen, was part of a team that won the TV feature award at the 2017 Vodacom Journalist of the Year (Northern region) for a series on Esidimeni that was produced partly while she was working at Health-e.
The report says Health-e journalists covered the Esidimeni tragedy from the start, and were the first to report on some of the deaths of over 100 mentally ill patients, who died after being transferred from a stable facility, Life Esidimeni, to unregistered NGOs.
“Journalism can influence awareness of what is happening in our country and drive public discourse. Months of investigation resulted in a series of reports that were thoroughly researched, poignantly told, well shot and edited – and exposed conditions contributing to the death of one of the subjects. This impactful reporting was subsequently even used during the official investigation,” according to the judges.
The report says other members of the winning team were freelance cameraman Shamiel Albertyn, and Ashley Market, Tshepo Dhlamini and Tshidi Lechuba of eNCA’s Checkpoint.
[link url="https://www.health-e.org.za/2017/10/25/health-es-esidimeni-tv-documentaries-win-vodacom-award/"]Health-e News report[/link]