2009 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® AWARDS NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Qatar, Ukraine and UK nominated

Al Jazeera Nominated in Both Categories for the Second Consecutive Year

New York, July 23rd, 2009 – The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced today the nominees for the 2009 News and Current Affairs categories. Winners will be announced at a Ceremony at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Time Warner Center in New York City on September 21, 2009. The international winners will be honored alongside their American news and documentary counterparts (the list of nominees follows this release).

This is the first time ever that a program from the Ukraine is nominated in the News Category.

Al Jazeera is nominated both in the Current Affairs and News Categories for the second consecutive year.

“The International Academy is proud to be recognizing on the global stage this distinguished work in news & current affairs programming,” said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® AWARD NEWS NOMINEES:

NEWS:

Al Jazeera News Hour – Russia-Georgia War
Al Jazeera English, Qatar
Al Jazeera English is on the ground covering the Russia-Georgia war. The channel’s Moscow bureau mobilizes on the story three days before fighting begins and travels to the South Ossetian border where, on Friday, August 8, 2008, they witness the outbreak of hostilities. The channel deploys journalists across the region, feeding live updates and cut packages from the front lines. This entry comprises of four packages from Gori, Tskhinvali and South Ossetia and a live update from Tiblisi.

ITV News – China Earthquake
ITV News, UK
On May 12, 2008 the biggest earthquake in China in 30 years strikes the country’s Sichuan Province. The story dominates ITV News programs for the following 10 days. International Editor, Bill Neely, obtains footage of the earthquake, capturing its full force and the terrifying ordeal of the survivors. He also marches with the Red Army to the epicenter. China Correspondent, John Ray, reaches the city of Beichuan, where a school has collapsed on 3,000 pupils. He shows survivors pulled from the wreckage before reporting from Hongbai, close to the epicenter.

Details – South Ossetian War
National Information Systems Ltd. – INTER TV Channel, Ukraine
From the first day of the bloodshed of the South Ossetian War, INTER TV crews cover the conflict from Tskhinvali (Southern Ossetia), Gori war zone (Georgia), Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and later from Abkhazia. Witnesses, news-specialists, victims, and refugees all tell their stories. This submission is a compilation of INTER TV newscasts’ main stories within the first 4 days of the conflict.

Jornal Nacional – Eloá’s Story
TV Globo, Brazil
One hundred hours after a young man holds his ex-girlfriend Eloá and her best friend hostage, elite troops storm the apartment – in full view of the cameras. The abductor comes out unscathed, however, both Eloá and Nayara have been shot. Only the latter survives. Police state that action took place only after a shot was heard from inside. But an independent criminal and forensic expert contacted by TV Globo concludes the shots were fired only after police went in. The truth comes out when Nayara, the survivor, confirms the expert’s findings.

CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Witness Special – Return to Nablus
Al Jazeera English / Flashback Television/ Teachers Television, Qatar
Witness returns to the Palestinian town of Nablus where the cameras go inside Hajja Rushda girls’ school and King Talal boys’ school for the final months of the academic year, to complete the year-in-the-life observation of two schools under Israeli occupation. In addition to all the usual stresses of running a school and facing exams teachers, students have to live under siege and the constant threat of violence, arrests by the Israeli army and oppressive restrictions on their movement. This is a story of trials and triumphs.

Dispatches – Saving Africa’s Witch Children
Red Rebel Films and Oxford Scientific Films for Channel 4, UK
In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervor is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine –  and branded witches. Denounced as Satan-made flesh by powerful pastors and prophetesses, these children are abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered – all in the name of Jesus Christ. This Dispatches Special follows the work of one Englishman, 29 year old Gary Foxcroft, who has devoted his life to helping these desperate and vulnerable children.

ARD exclusiv – Kindersklaven
Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Germany
ARD exclusiv “Kindersklaven” is a journalistic documentary series about child slaves. In this episode, a 10 year old boy sits on the floor of a filthy cellar, stitching pearls on fabric for 14 hours a day as a warden snaps at him, demanding that he continue working.

The Team – Babies Traffic
Eyeworks Cuatro Cabezas, Argentina
In Argentina, for every child who is legally adopted, there are three who are victims of trafficking. In Santiago del Estero, for every ten children born, scarcely two are registered in a Civil Record. Many of these trafficked children end up in prostitution networks, as part of child pornography, and organ trafficking.  We travel to Misiones and Santiago del Estero, both states indicated as the places where the traffic networks are installed. We find mothers whose babies are taken away from them, couples who wait years for an adoption, and adults that discover that they had been adopted illegally. For an illegal baby it is possible to pay from two thousand to twenty thousand dollars. The Team will demonstrate that baby trafficking is a huge business.

About The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 50 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards Ceremony held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in fifteen categories. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv.

Media Contacts:
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences     
Eva Obadia, Director Marketing & PR         
eva.obadia@iemmys.tv                       
1-212-489-6969                           

The Lippin Group
Don Ciaramella
don@lippingroup.com
1-212-986-7080

MARKUS SCHÄCHTER, DIRECTOR GENERAL ZDF TO RECEIVE 2009 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® DIRECTORATE AWARD

Network Honored by Academy as Germany Commemorates Federal Republic’s 60th Anniversary

 

New York, July 9, 2009 – Prof. Markus Schächter, Director General of German public-service broadcaster ZDF, one of Europe’s largest and most respected broadcasters, will be the 2009 recipient of the International Emmy® Directorate Award, announced Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Award will be presented to Prof. Schächter at the 37th International Emmy® Awards on November 23rd, in New York City.
 
Prof. Schächter was selected by the Awards Committee both because of his outstanding leadership of ZDF for the last 7 years and to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the founding of The Federal Republic of Germany. Over the last 25 years, he has been instrumental in positioning ZDF as a leader both in the highly competitive German television market and throughout the world. He also provided leadership for ZDF’s participation in the digital transformation. The International Emmy® Directorate Award is given to organizations or individuals for their outstanding contributions, over a period of time, to the arts and sciences of international television.
 
“ZDF’s global reputation as a provider of high-quality television is testimony to Markus Schächter’s vision for his channel – to combine excellence in programming with audience success,” said Bruce L. Paisner. “As Germany celebrates this 60th Anniversary, The International Academy is pleased to be recognizing his outstanding achievements with our 2009 Directorate Award.”
 
ZDF Director General Markus Schächter said in Mainz, Germany, “It is a great honor to receive this reknowned international award. I take it as a recognition of the success that we have achieved in the national as well as the international marketplace. The Directorate Award is a reward for the performance of the ZDF employees who work with dedication and expertise every day to maintain ZDF as one of the leading national and international players.”

Past recipients of the International Emmy® Directorate Award include:
Liu Changle, Founding Chairman & CEO, Phoenix Satellite Television, in 2008; Patrick Le Lay, Chairman & CEO, TF1, in 2007; Central European Media Enterprises (CME) and its Founder & Chairman, Ronald S. Lauder, in 2006; the UK’s ITV plc, in 2005 (accepted by Charles Allen, ITV’s then Chief Executive); Dr. Herbert Kloiber, Managing Director, Tele-München Group (TMG), in 2004; and in 2003, Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC.

About Prof. Markus Schächter and ZDF
Prof. Schächter’s career at ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) spans over 25 years, with a succession of key roles in production, programming and management. He was elected Director General by ZDF’s governing body, The Television Council, in 2002 and has since overseen the group’s operations which include the main channel, as well as cable and satellite channels 3sat, ARTE, Kinderkanal and PHOENIX and digital bouquet ZDF vision. Especially strong in news and current affairs, documentaries and TV-Movies, ZDF is a leader in the highly competitive German TV market and one of the world’s most important providers of factual programming.
 
About The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 50 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards Ceremony held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in the following fifteen categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Current Affairs; Children & Young People; Comedy; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction; Digital Program: Non-Fiction; Documentary; Drama Series; News; Non-Scripted Entertainment; Telenovela; TV Movie/Mini-Series. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv.

Media Contacts:
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences     
Eva Obadia, Director Marketing & PR            
eva.obadia@iemmys.tv                    
212-489-6969 

The Lippin Group
Don Ciaramella
don@lippingroup.com
212-986-7080

SIR DAVID FROST TO RECEIVE 2009 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® FOUNDERS AWARD

New York, July 9, 2009 — Sir David Frost, one of the preeminent television figures of the 20th century whose interviews with President Richard Nixon were immortalized in last year’s Oscar nominated movie Frost/Nixon, is set to receive the 2009 International Emmy® Founders Award. International Academy President & CEO, Bruce L. Paisner, announced today that Sir David will accept the Award at the 37th International Emmy® Awards Gala, on November 23, 2009 in New York City.

Sir David has been producing and hosting his own shows for more than 40 years and begins his fourth year of hosting and producing Frost Over The World for Al Jazeera English this September.   The program is received in more than 140 million homes in over 100 countries.

“Sir David Frost has been in the front line of television and entertainment for the last 40 years,” said Paisner. “His personal contributions to satire and political programming as well as his business acumen make him a defining figure of broadcasting and The International Academy is honored to be presenting him with the 2009 International Emmy® Founders Award in recognition of his monumental career.”

Over the years, Frost has interviewed hundreds of celebrities and newsmakers. He is the only person to have interviewed all seven British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2009 and the seven US presidents in office between 1969 and 2008. His ground-breaking satirical show That Was The Week That Was and its follow-up, The Frost Report, served as a launch pad for many modern British comics (including most of the cast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus) and propelled Frost into the limelight. By the end of the 1960s he was producing shows in England and the U.S., and enjoying as much celebrity as those he was interviewing on TV.  Sir David received the Golden Rose of Montreux for The Frost Report in 1967 and two US Emmy Awards for The David Frost Show in 1970 and 1971. He also co-founded two UK network companies, London Weekend Television and TV-am.

From the late 60’s and during the 1970s and ’80s he became known as a high-profile interviewer, enhanced by his series of 1977 televised interviews with former U.S. president Richard Nixon.   He was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in the New Year’s Honours List in January 1993, and received from BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) their highest honour, the BAFTA Fellowship, in 2005.

Sir David Frost said today, “This Award is a crowning moment for me, bringing together, as it does, the United States, the United Kingdom and International Television.   When I began my television career in London in 1962 with TW3 I could never have imagined I would one day be receiving an Award like this in New York, a city that means so much to me.”

About The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 50 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards Ceremony held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in the following fifteen categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Current Affairs; Children & Young People; Comedy; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction; Digital Program: Non-Fiction; Documentary; Drama Series; News; Non-Scripted Entertainment; Telenovela; TV Movie/Mini-Series. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv.

Media Contacts:
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Eva Obadia, Director Marketing & PR
eva.obadia@iemmys.tv
212-489-6969

The Lippin Group
Don Ciaramella
don@lippingroup.com
212-986-7080