International Academy Reveals News, Current Affairs Nods

NEW YORK: Networks from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Qatar, Ukraine and the U.K. are listed among the contenders for International Emmys in the news and current-affairs categories announced today by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York City on September 21, alongside their American news and documentary counterparts. Highlights of the nominees this year include a first-time nod for Ukraine in the news category. In addition, Al Jazeera has been honored in both the current affairs and news categories for the second year in a row.

In the news category, Qatari-based Al Jazeera English is up for its coverage of the Russia/Georgia conflict. The other contenders are ITV News for its China earthquake reporting in May 2008; Ukraine’s Inter TV Channel for news from the South Ossetian war; and Brazil’s TV Globo for Jornal Nacional: Eloá’s Story, chronicling a hostage crisis.

In current affairs, the nominees are Al Jazeera English’s Witness Special: Return to Nablus; Channel 4’s Dispatches: Saving Africa’s Witch Children; WDR’s ARD exclusiv: Kindersklaven, about child slaves; and Eyeworks Cuatro Cabezas’s The Team: Babies Traffic.