Independent Media’s Baby Trade docuseries has been axed as a finalist for a global journalism award. News24 reports that the decision by the International News Media Awards (INMA) came after the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) wrote to INMA, calling for the entry to be disqualified.
The docuseries was nominated as a finalist in the Best Use of Social Media category. In a statement, Sanef said it was “appalled” at the shortlisting of a story about the so-called birth of decuplets in Gauteng for the upcoming global Media Awards.
As reported in MedicalBrief, the infamous “Tembisa 10” made headlines in June last year after editor Piet Rampedi wrote a story in the Pretoria News that claimed a South African woman had broken a world record by “giving birth to 10 babies”. The story took a twist when it was later denied by various government departments, hospitals, and social workers.
The organisation said it had written to the INMA to express its concern. In a statement, INMA CEO Earl Wilkinson said the entry had been removed from the list of finalists.
Wilkinson said “certain concerns” over the baby trade story had been brought to INMA’s attention after the competition shortlist was made public.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Tembisa 10: Evidence remains absent, questions unanswered
Tembisa 10: Claims of gigantic conspiracy by SA’s doctors, nurses and hospitals
Woman claimed to be mom of 10 goes to court over psychiatric hospitalisation
Decuplets a 'journalistic error', says health department