International Emmys Unveil News & Current Affairs Nominees

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has revealed the eight nominees for the 2021 News and Current Affairs categories, which hail from Brazil, Kenya, Qatar, Russia, the Netherlands and the U.K.

“As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic and unrest every place, access to reliable news is more crucial than ever,” said Bruce Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We salute the outstanding work and great courage of our nominees for reporting on difficult and sensitive matters, despite the global health crisis and many other obstacles thrown at them.”

BBC World Service is nominated for a program from Kenya in the Current Affairs category, Africa Eye: The Baby Stealers, which reveals the existence of a secretive but thriving illegal market for stolen babies in Kenya.

Brazil’s TV Globo is nominated in both the News and Current Affairs categories for its coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazilian cities and hospitals. Jornal Nacional: COVID-19 in Brazil is nominated in the News category, while Profissão Repórter/Fantástico: COVID-19: The Daily Routine of a Healthcare Team Inside a Public Hospital is nominated in the Current Affairs category.

Rounding out the News nominees are Sky News in the U.K. for A Warning from Italy, about the Covid-19 crisis in the country; Al Jazeera English in Qatar for Beirut Blast, which follows correspondent Zeina Khodr’s reporting on the August 4, 2020 blast at the Beirut port; and Russia’s RT (ANO TV-Novosti) for Nagorno-Karabakh War: Bloodshed and Path to Ceasefire, which covers the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the region.

Also receiving nods in the Current Affairs category are VPRO Television in the Netherlands for Bureau Buitenland: De Jacht op Gaddafi’s miljarden (The Hunt for Gaddafi’s Billions), zeroing in on the battle for Muammar Gaddafi’s missing billions in South Africa; and Darlow Smithson Productions/ITV in the U.K. for Exposure: In Cold Blood, which examines the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history.

The International Emmy winners will be recognized alongside their American news peers during an online ceremony on September 28.