HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE WORLD CUP
Qatar was the first Arab nation to host the FIFA World Cup, but much of the focus around the games was on Qatar’s stained human rights reputation. Several reports highlight abuses of workers preparing for the games, along with labor laws impacting other domestic workers in the country. Leah and her team investigated some of these reports to ensure they were not overshadowed by the fanfare of the tournament.
SPORTS PRESENTING
In 2018, Leah covered the World Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar. That assignment turned into more than a year as a sports presenter on Al Jazeera. After experiencing a new division of the newsroom, Leah returned to the Newshours as a senior producer. While she still loved occasionally filling in on the sports desk, she was glad to be reporting on politics again.
NORTH MACEDONIA PARAGLIDING
Leah was the only international correspondent to cover the 2019 World Paragliding Championships in North Macedonia. It’s one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other. The sport not only champions equality, but its growing popularity is also helping to boost local economies in small towns across Eastern Europe.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION
In a partnership with Northwestern University in Qatar, Leah wrote a commentary based on their 6th annual survey tracking media use in the Middle East. Leah presented her perspective as a journalist covering the blockade of Qatar at The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Toronto in August 2019.
REPORTING IN A COUP
Leah was on assignment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when her producer called her to ask if she had heard gunshots. A coup attempt was underway. Al Jazeera was the first network to go live from within the country to break the news of multiple top military official casualties. Leah’s reports offered clear insight into Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s attempts to control his government.
ULTRAMARATHON ACROSS QATAR
On January 25, 2019, Leah ran 90km (56 miles) across Qatar in a single day as part of the first all-female team to do so. Despite the desert heat, they ran for the Free to Run initiative, a group that encourages women and girls in conflict zones to pursue adventure sports as a form of therapy and healing. Because who runs the world? Girls.
NEWSGRID NOMINATED FOR EMMY
An episode of NewsGrid, co-hosted by Leah Harding, was nominated in the News category for the 2018 International Emmy Awards. The broadcast focused on the two month anniversary of the Qatar-Gulf crisis with in-depth analysis and reporting on the blockade of Qatar and the demands to shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network.