The Columbia School of Journalism announced yesterday that Al Jazeera English won one of 14 duPont awards, awarded for excellence in a range of journalism disciplines. Poynter reports:

The duPont award recognized excellent reporting by “Fault Lines,” AJE’s weekly documentary program that primarily examines the United States’ role in the world; the winning program highlighted the struggles and slow recovery in Haiti six months after the earthquake.

Al Jazeera does indeed deserve praise for some of its journalism, which seems to be relatively unbiased coverage with an impressive global reach, including in somewhat neglected areas such as Africa and Central Asia (e.g., they had a bureau in Kabul before 9/11).

But the network is also frequently accused of anti-American bias (despite its funding from an American ally, the Emir of Qatar) — and it doesn’t seem like calling their program on America’s role in the world Fault Lines will help defuse that.