BAFTA Cymru win for third year IR student

A third year School of Law and Politics student has scooped a BAFTA Cymru award for a programme that made history on Welsh speaking television.

Emily Pemberton, who studies International Relations, was a researcher and panellist on the news and current affairs programme Pawb a’i farn (Black Lives Matter) which made history in July 2020 as the first S4C programme to feature an all-Black panel of contributors. The programme looked at the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained national and international media coverage following the murder of George Floyd, and its relevance to Wales.

Pawb a’i farn was one of three shortlisted programmes in the news and current affairs category at the BAFTA Cymru awards and on 24 October 2021, it was announced as the winner at a digital awards ceremony. As Emily was in the unique position of working in front of and behind the camera, the programme’s production team at Teledu Tinopolis thought she was the ideal person to accept the award on their behalf.

Emily, who speaks Welsh and is from Grangetown, Cardiff, accepted the award bilingually via Zoom and thanked everyone who had worked on the programme and made it possible after a very challenging 18 months due to lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions.

Emily has worked with a variety of local and national Welsh language media organisations since school in an attempt to improve the representation of Black people in the media in Wales. She also worked on the documentary Terfysg yn y bae (Riot in the Bay) about the Cardiff Race Riots of 1919.

Speaking of her work Emily said, “Since I was at school, I’ve been working with media outlets to expand the narrow space that Black people are usually given to discuss matters that are important to them, matters which aren’t usually spoken about, ignored, or dismissed.”

“A lot of Welsh speakers don't realize how White these platforms are. Winning this award just shows how all you need to do is to be given the platform, be given the space and look at what comes back to you. This programme is a big deal because it's not been done before, but it shouldn't be like that. It should be normalized. I want to see Black people talking on TV in ten years time about topics other than racism. Poverty, health, the economy.”

Although Emily’s media work takes place in her free time, her studies on the International Relations (BSc Econ) programme are directly connected. Emily has opted to carry out her studies through the medium of Welsh and is now writing her dissertation on what the Welsh Government is putting into place to tackle racism and whether that is even possible.

“My course helps me understand the world a bit more. Everything from the big picture stuff to looking at local politics. It’s looking at everyday life and is so varied. It’s given me the confidence to look critically and question the things that you're used to everyday, the police, the government, schools etc. I want my dissertation to be an extension of myself and writing it in Welsh will be the ultimate test and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”