UNITED NATIONS VIDEO TEAM WINS ‘BEST POLITICAL STORY’ AWARD

AT CNN WORLD REPORT CONFERENCE

NEW YORK, 4 June (UN Department of Public Information) -- The 2003 CNN World Report Conference named a “United Nations in Action” report the “Best Political Story” of the year 2002.  Producer Michele Zaccheo’s East Timor:  Birth of a Nation had to compete against many other CNN contributors worldwide to win this prestigious award in Atlanta, Georgia.  The CNN awards go to the best news stories in eight thematic categories produced for CNN World Report.

"This award is a great recognition for us.  It is not just an award for the quality TV that the UN can produce, if adequately supported.  It is also an important nod to all the people who make the UN work to achieve its aims -- often against terrific odds -- in places like East Timor", says Mr. Zaccheo, a producer of the award-winning “United Nations in Action” series.  That series consists of short news-style television reports on current affairs that are produced weekly in five official United Nations languages, and are intended for thematic programming slots.

The theme for this year's conference was "Perspectives:  The Challenges of Reporting in a Changing Environment".  Delegates representing over 55 countries attended the 2003 World Report Conference for the active exchange of ideas, methods and journalistic techniques.

This is not the first time the United Nations TV Features Production Team has succeeded at such festivals.  The United Nations TV Features Section has participated in many contests worldwide, and has been a successful nominee at many of them.  Most recently, “United Nations in Action” received a Best Science and Technology Award at the twelfth Annual CNN World Report Conference for Mongolia and the E-world, an original report on the growth of information technology in that Central Asian country.

The United Nations TV Features Production Team continues to be a competitive news feature producer in the global market, thanks to its access to unique video footage, its outstanding production team, and grass-roots contacts in the field.

For more information, please contact:  Caroline Petit, Promotion & Distribution Manager at e-mail: petitc@un.org, tel.: 212-963-6982, fax: 212-963-6869.

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