Plight of Rohingya Refugees

The BBC’s series of reports on the unfolding exodus of Rohingya refugees reveals the devastation and cruelty of ethnic cleansing. As more than half a million Muslims fled persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh, BBC reporters followed along, trying to discern what had happened and to corroborate reports of the destruction of entire villages and people being slaughtered. Restricted media entry made the story even more difficult to cover, but Jonathan Head received rare access inside the country. Simple, straightforward reporting and footage of villages reduced to ash allowed the story to speak on its own. As thousands of people poured across the border into Bangladesh, Clive Myrie was there, capturing images of small children being carried in laundry baskets hung on sticks. Interviews with exasperated relief workers and medical personnel provide background on the toll, which affected mostly children caught in a conflict not of their own making. For measured reporting on an ongoing crisis with many moving parts and people, BBC’s “Plight of Rohingya Refugees” receives a Peabody Award.