Alums win big at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards

UPDATE: Al Jazeera America’s weekly investigative program, Fault Lines, won an award in the Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a News Magazine category for “Haiti in a Time of Cholera.” The program is produced by two J-School alumni: Carrie Lozano (’05) is a senior producer for Fault Lines, and fellow alum Singeli Agnew (’07) works as a producer for the show.

The New York Times Op-Docs took top honors in the New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture category for “A Short History of the Highrise,” an interactive web feature that traces the 2,500-year history of tall buildings. Alum Jason Spingarn-Koff (’01) worked as an executive producer on the project.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Nominees with J-School ties will appear in at least eight different categories, from breaking news to long-form investigations, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards on Sept. 30, 2014. News and documentary segments produced by J-School alumni, as well as current and former faculty, have appeared on Frontline and Al Jazeera America, in The New York Times, and on national networks including ABC and NBC.

“Rape in the Fields,” nominated for Outstanding Investigative Journalism–Long Form, was produced by lecturer Andres Cediel (’04) with correspondent Lowell Bergman, the School’s Reva and David Logan Distinguished Chair of Investigative Journalism.

The yearlong investigation into the sexual assault of American field workers is a collaboration between UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, the Center for Investigative Journalism, Frontline, and Univision.

The Emmy nomination completes a trifecta of recognition for “Rape in the Fields.” The film won the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights’ top journalism award, and was nominated for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

“It’s great to be acknowledged in those arenas, both in investigative journalism and in human rights,” Cediel said in advance of the Emmy ceremony. “To be recognized for the piece of television that we did is also very gratifying.”

“For the J-School community, this is particularly relevant,” Cediel said, counting more than 15 alumni and student collaborators at Berkeley. “This is a story generated by a grad student. Linsay Rousseau Burnett (’10) came across this story during her summer internship at the J-School and worked on it for her thesis. Other students kept the story alive, so it was ready to be pitched to Frontline. It’s a great example of the reporting and other work that graduate students are doing — it’s not only pushing the envelope and cutting-edge, but also can lead to very successful national projects.”

Reporting on “Rape in the Fields” has also led to follow-up investigation of sexual assault among janitorial workers. Once again, students and faculty are cooperating to shed light on a widespread problem in an invisible community.

A scan of other Emmy nominees reveals more alumni and friends of the J-School. Competing for Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story are producers John Holland (’85) and Martin Smith (’69). Carrie Lozano (’05) is nominated for her work as senior producer on “Fault Lines: Haiti in a Time of Cholera” for Al Jazeera America. Former J-School lecturers up for Emmy awards include Barbara Ehrenreich, Steve Fainaru and Mark Katches.

The 35th Annual News and Documentary Awards ceremony takes place on Sept. 30, 2014 in New York City.