News Broadcasting
News and Documentary Emmy Awards receive record number of entries
MUMBAI: The 23rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards this year have a record 1,654 entries, up from last year’s 1450.
PBS leads the final tally with 41 nominations, while CBS follows with 26. The awards that recognise outstanding achievement by individuals and programmes broadcast during the 2001 calendar year will this year take place a day after the first anniversary of 9/11 in New York City.
According to an official release, the awards will pay tribute to the role of broadcast journalists in covering 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan, and will reflect that same excellence in the coverage of news in other key areas affecting world culture including the AIDS crisis as a world health problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This year, the presentation of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards will be part of a series of events titled “9/11 to 9/11: A Tribute to News Professionals.” At the ceremony, NATAS will honor Roone Arledge, Chairman, ABC News with the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Barbara Walters will make the presentation.
The numerical breakdown, by broadcast and cable entities, as compiled by the independent accountancy firm of Lutz and Carr, LLP –
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
