NITV Wins Inaugural Journalism Story of the Year Award at the Deadlys
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
NITV has won the Inaugural Journalism Story of the Year award at the annual Deadly Awards, held last night at the Sydney Opera House. Now in its 19th year, The Deadly Awards form Australia’s largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander event on the national calendar.
NITV News won in the Journalism Story of the Year category for journalist Malarndirri McCarthy’s report Shayden and Junaid Thorne in Saudi Arabia, about two Aboriginal men in Saudi Arabia – one in prison facing terrorism charges, and his brother who was in hiding.
NITV News presenter Natalie Ahmat accepted the award last night, on behalf of journalist Malarndirri McCarthy, saying: “No other media seemed able to pick up this story – which is why the family came to NITV – an Indigenous media organisation… As a result DFAT and the Foreign Minister were forced to go public with the information on the Noongar brothers, who had been in jail for over six months before NITV News broke the story.”
NITV led the news piece on 1 May and was credited with breaking the story both nationally and internationally.
NITV Channel Manager Tanya Denning said: “The success of NITV News at the Deadly Awards is recognition of our commitment to pursuing important and relevant news coverage that impacts Indigenous Australians, produced by Indigenous Australians. We pride ourselves on continuing to deliver news that matters and we are thrilled to have NITV’s achievements acknowledged by the industry.”
NITV News Executive Producer Angela Bates added: “The NITV News team are proud of Malarndirri and we congratulate her on this historic win. As the only news service in the country that runs entirely Indigenous content, it’s a great privilege for our coverage to be recognised at an event that truly honours and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement”.
Presented by Natalie Ahmat and Kris Flanders, NITV News is the only nightly television news service that covers entirely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories from across the country in its half-hour bulletin.
NITV News airs 5.30pm Weekdays on NITV and is repeated at 7pm and 11pm. NITV News is available online at SBS On Demand.
ENDS.