The August 4 Beirut blast in 2020 was among the most devastating explosions in recent years, killing more than 200 and injuring thousands. While the world has moved on, for survivors, the scars—seen and unseen—remain.
This is the story former Breaker journalist Natasha Salloum tells in Four Years Forward, her documentary shortlisted for the 2024 Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) Awards. Inspired by her experience of nearly losing her father in the explosion, Salloum captures the resilience of survivors and the strength of the community that has helped them rebuild their lives.
The film focuses on four individuals who share, for the first time on camera, their accounts of the blast, the trauma they endured, and the ways they’ve learned to cope. It highlights their collective journey of healing and enduring hope for the future.
“The Beirut blast was the worst day of my life,” Salloum said. “I thought I had lost my father when he went missing after the explosion. Miraculously, he survived, though with life-threatening injuries. That experience shaped Four Years Forward—a story of survivors who came together through a shared sense of community to heal and rebuild.”
Salloum, who graduated from Bournemouth University’s MA Multimedia Journalism earlier this year, now works as Digital Content Writer for MBC Studios in Riyadh.
Her film competes in the Best TV News Feature category alongside Cut Short by Freya Fraser of Nottingham Trent University. Fraser’s documentary examines the rise in knife crime in the UK, telling the story of a life tragically cut short and the social issues driving the crisis.
Bournemouth University also features prominently in the Best Online News Site category, where the MA Multimedia Journalism website, The Breaker, is shortlisted alongside University of East Anglia’s UEAjournalism.com. In 2024, the Breaker featured coverage of the Gaza crisis, the UK election, and in-depth Q&As on diverse topics, alongside its regular mix of local, national, and international stories.
BU is a regular finalist at the BJTC Awards. Two years ago, The Breaker won Best Online News Site for its coverage of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Last year, the programme was runner-up in both the online category, with My.Choice, and the audio feature category for There Goes the Neighbourhood.
This year, the programme also submitted several strong projects, including:
- Inside the Protests, a multimedia feature on recent anti-immigration violence in the UK.
- Behind the Laughter, an audio documentary exploring the hidden pain of stand-up comedians.
- Unreal, a multimedia reportage on a ‘zombie attack’ in an underground car park.
- Forget Me Not, an investigation into the lives of carers supporting people with dementia.
- Dressed in Data, an exploration of AI’s transformative role in the fashion industry.
- Fear in Silence, a documentary on dowry-related deaths in Kerala.
- Beyond the Delhi Riots, capturing the fear within the minority community as Narendra Modi returned to power.
“What makes the Breaker unique is how it enables students to tackle complex global stories,” said Professor Chindu Sreedharan, programme leader of MA Multimedia Journalism. “From covering the Gaza crisis to exploring AI’s role in storytelling, they experiment with tools and techniques that reflect the changing face of journalism.\”
The winners of this year’s BJTC Awards will be announced on 12 December at Sky News in London.
The symbolic cover image for this story, a representation of the Beirut explosion in abstract style, was created using Midjourney.
