By: Sameer Rao
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored achievement in television at the 39th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards ceremony in New York City last night (October 1).
The Academy awarded statues to the producers, directors and other creative team members behind compelling documentaries and news specials that aired on broadcast and streaming networks in the last year. Several of those winning programs tackled contemporary racial justice topics, including those listed below:
VICE News Tonight (Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast) for “Charlottesville: Race and Terror,” a documentary special about the lead-up to and violence during the White supremacist Unite the Right rally
Showtime (Outstanding Social Issue Documentary) for “Jackson,” which explored the racial and religious dynamics behind the fight around reproductive health access and rights in Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic
Al Jazeera International USA (Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine) for “The Ban,” about citizens from Muslim-majority countries impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive order banning their entry into the United States
Univision (Outstanding Feature Story in Spanish) for “Temor en Tierra de Trump con Mayoría de Indocumentados,” which uses the English-language title, “Fear in Trump Country—This is the U.S. City with the Highest Proportion of Undocumented Immigrants,” and focuses on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ policing of immigrants of undocumented status in Gainesville, Georgia
HBO Documentary Films (Outstanding Investigative Documentary) for “Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison,” which uncovers solitary confinement processes in a high-security state correctional facility in Virginia
Source: Color Lines
