APTN Wins International Emmy Award For Beslan Coverage

International video agency AP Television News (APTN) has won the International Emmy Breaking News Award for its coverage of the Beslan school siege.
The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented its Breaking News and Continuing News Coverage Awards - dubbed the Emmys - in New York on 19 September.
Sandy MacIntyre, APTN's Director of News, said: "Think back to Beslan and it is those harrowing APTN images which are imprinted on the minds of viewers around the globe. Cameraman Dima Kozlov worked hard to pass himself off as a local resident of an apartment block overlooking the school, to ingratiate himself with a family and to remain with them so he was in the right place at the right time when the siege ended so tragically. But the fact remains the children of Beslan were in the wrong place at the wrong time. So APTN is dedicating this International Emmy award to their memory."
When news reached APTN's Senior Producer in Moscow of the Beslan crisis, a team of four APTN producers and cameramen was scrambled to North Ossetia. A chartered aircraft was organised to send a satellite uplink, so the scene in Beslan could be relayed live to broadcasters around the globe. It's estimated that more than a billion viewers worldwide relied on the APTN signal.
Dima Kozlov was dispatched to hide inside an apartment block overlooking the school. Hence APTN had the only cameraman to capture the moment when the siege ended. From his rooftop vantage point he kept rolling as children ran from the gymnasium to the echo of gunfire. With the hostage takers and special forces still locked in battle; he raced to the street to film the flight to freedom of the traumatised and injured victims.
The horrific events were delivered live and as-live to broadcasters around the world on APTN's satellite network, known as the Global Video Wire, and on our breaking news service, APTN Direct. That night every national broadcaster in Britain and in countless other countries round the world led their news bulletins with APTN's pictures.
APTN was nominated for an International Emmy award in 2003 for its coverage of Gulf War II, as well as receiving the Royal Television Society's Special Judges' Award in the UK for coverage of the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks.
AP Television News, www.aptn.com
(GB)