NBC's strong commitment to covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is reflected in the nominations for the News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
NBC News received 19 nominations Tuesday, the most of any network with the exception of PBS, which received 33 in mostly documentary categories. That included eight for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," with six newscasts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that ravaged New Orleans almost a year ago. Three of the seven "Dateline" nominations also featured Katrina-related coverage.
Williams dominated one of the top categories, for coverage of a breaking-news story in a regularly scheduled newscast. "Nightly News" had three of the four nominations, all on Katrina.
NBC News — and Williams — have made Katrina a continued focus of the network's news coverage ever since Williams rode out the storm in New Orleans' Superdome and gave a series of impassioned reports in the hurricane's aftermath. He has returned to the region nine times after his initial week during the storm; NBC News also maintains a full-time bureau in New Orleans.
Late ABC anchor Peter Jennings was recognized with three nominations, including one for his last international assignment in Baghdad in spring 2005 for "Iraq: Where Things Stand 3" on ABC's "World News Tonight." Jennings' reporting on 2004's "Iraq: Where Things Stand" won an Emmy at last year's ceremony.
Jennings' last work for ABC, aired posthumously with some narration by Charles Gibson, also was nominated in a longform news category: "Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown — America's Health Insurance Crisis."
"60 Minutes" received 10 nominations, the most for any single show; its network, CBS, received 16 nominations. Other networks receiving nominations were ABC (14), History Channel (12), National Geographic (eight), Cinemax (seven), HBO (six), CNN (six), Discovery Channel (five), NYTimes.com (three), MTV (three), Discovery HD Theater (two), Animal Planet (two), WashingtonPost.com (two) and one each for Discovery Times Channel, Hallmark Channel, Showtime and Univision.
The News and Documentary Emmys will be handed out Monday, Sept. 25 during a black-tie ceremony at New York's Marriott Marquis.