US TV Award Nomination for MacIntyre's Five News 'Missionaries Of Charity' Feature

MacIntyre's News Feature Directorial Debut for Five News 'Missionaries Of Charity': Short Listed in nominations for prestigious US Television Award.

(PRWEB) December 14, 2005 -- Five News' powerful and disturbing news feature covering the treatment of children with learning disabilities at one of Mother Teresa's flagship homes in Kolkata, has been nominated for a prestigious US Television Award.

Reported and produced by Journalist and Documentary Film Maker Donal MacIntyre it is amongst the shortlist in the news special category at the New York Festivals' 2006 Television Awards.

Broadcast on the 1st of August 2005, it first aired on Five News in the UK and Sky News internationally. The scenes were both shocking and distressing and showed young children with learning disabilities tied and tethered to their beds, it also showed children who were left unattended on their toilet seats for more than 20 minutes. Some children also had their hands tied while they were being fed.

MacIntyre says the home, where he worked undercover for four days as a volunteer, had very poor standards of hygiene. He showed his footage to Martin Gallagher, a Care Expert and former Operations Director of MENCAP, the leading UK learning disability charity, who said, "My overall impression of the pictures you've shown me from this centre is that the standard of care is shoddy and haphazard."

MacIntyre who is an ambassador for the Charity MENCAP, has a long standing interest in learning disability and is a frequent lecturer on the subject, having made four programmes on the issue over the years. This report was MacIntyre’s first foray into news reporting. His documentary directorial debut "Gangster" - part of the 'MacIntyre's Underworld' three part series that also featured the films "Supergrass" and "Vendetta" was nominated for three international awards including the prestigious Grierson Award in the Best Documentary Category.

In response to Macintyre's distressing report representatives of the Missionaries of Charity said “Such treatment of the children is for educational reasons only and in their best interest”, adding that they valued the constructive criticism and admitted that there was room for improvement. The findings were reported substantially around the world.

For close to 50 years, the New York Festivals (NYF) has honoured excellence in creative communication, work that has touched the hearts

and minds of readers, listeners and viewers worldwide. Previous UK winners have included "Auschwitz: The Final Witness" 2000 directed by Sheldon Lazarus for Sky News, the BBC's Horizon - "What Sank The Kursk" 2001 and CNN International’s Christianne Amanpour who was awarded in 2004 for Best News Correspondent.

Winners of the competition will be honoured at an awards ceremony taking place at the Hudson Theatre located in the Millennium Broadway Hotel, New York City, January 27th 2006.

For Further Information please contact:

Jayjay Epega

Seamus Lyte Management

00 44 7973 800718

http://www.seamuslyte.com

http://www.newyorkfestivals.com

Kay Breeze

Five

00 44 207 550 5659

http://www.five.tv

# # #