The 4oth annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards held recently at the prestigious Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall in NYC is where the creme de la creme from the world of television news and documentaries all came together to honor their colleagues. Over 1000 top producers, writers, reporters and anchors competed for one of the most sought after and prestigious recognition’s in the news industry, the Emmy® Award.
In celebrating talented nominees in forty-nine categories, the National Academy also honored the iconic and brilliant Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and host of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” with the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her incredible 40 plus years of covering domestic and international affairs, political campaigns and conducting exclusive interviews with world leaders, celebrities and politicians.
The very popular and highly respected Mitchell who has been with NBC since 1978 , has served in different prominent roles at the network including her most recent one as NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. From covering the US Cuban relationship for years to being front and center of every major political campaign including the most recent one with Hillary Clinton, Mitchell’s relentless and driven personality has gotten her every major news story and exclusive interview which she has presented to the American people to see and hear. One of her well-known traits is that Mitchell is known for her ability to get interviews with world leaders who rarely if ever, speak to journalists.
Mitchell lives in Washington, D.C. and is married to the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan.
Among the Emmy® winners of the evening was NBC’s prominent and diligent journalist Kate Snow who won for her outstanding interview “Bringing Down Bill Cosby: Andrea Constrand Speaks” for NBC Dateline. Snow exclusively spoke to The Ravi Report about her win and how the interview helped so many women speak out publicly regarding sexual assault.
RR: Congrats on your win Kate. What an incredible interview with survivor Andrea Constand. More women are now coming out and telling their own story of abuse with confidence after seeing your interview. I’ve spoken to women after your story aired and they said you have set up a platform where they are no longer afraid to speak about their personal stories. Your reaction?
KS: Thank you so much. I have spoken to many of the accusers of Bill Cosby, they were ahead of the movement, they were the movement before there was a hashtag. They found each other through social media years ago and started taking to each other. These people who had never met before were realizing their stories were similar that there were strong parallels to what they had experienced. Years ago, I did an interview with 27 accusers in one room and was struck by all the similarities in their stories and when it came time for Andrea Constand to make a decision she choose to come to NBC because we had done that other hour and because she had seen the work and the way we respectfully told the other stories so she knew she could find her voice with us.
NBC News superstar Kate Snow
RR: There is also a sense of trust and that is huge for any journalist. Andrea Constand trusted you to tell her story when she revisited that part of her life. Were you at all surprised at her willingness to relive her painful past?
KS: I am indebted to Andrea Constand for that. I think she did a brave and difficult thing. The trial ended, Cosby was convicted and she could have gone away in her private life and never spoken about it again. It was difficult and brave for her to sit and tell it all again. A lot of it was really painfully for her. She had to revisit a lot of that pain and for that, I am so grateful to her.
RR: There is a sense that Andrea Constand felt comfortable telling you her story especially when she had to face it all over again on national TV. Your reaction?
KS: I know why she did it. She did it because she wants to empower other women. She wants other women to feel bold and come forward. She talks a lot about informing and educating the younger people about consent and about knowing where those lines are. I think in hindsight, a lot of the women involved with Bill Cosby at the time wished they could have said something, but felt they couldn’t and they want the next generation to know that they can.
RR: Are you at all surprised at your win?
KS: Yes! I said it on stage only because we were in such a category with so many incredible journalists and were in a league of amazing interviews.
RR: Your story was so well deserving of the Emmy win. It was incredible and it really made a difference in so many women’s lives. You must feel a sense of pride but also because you helped so many women.
KS: Thank you. It makes me feel good about being a journalist I try to shine a light on things that are under covered, under presented and injustices. Also, things that people don’t know enough about and that honestly, is what drives me as a journalist and if we can do that, we can start conversations.
For a complete list of 2019 News & Documentary Emmy® Award winners, visit
www.emmyonline.tvThe journey continues…and for all the winners, it’s a congratulatory one!
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