BBC World wins award for news

[BGonaSTICK]

BBC World, the BBC's commercial funded 24-hour news channel, has scooped its fifth news award at the annual Hot Bird TV Awards.

Organised by the satellite operator Eutelsat, the award is judged by a panel of journalists from newspapers and magazines around Europe.

The prize was presented in recognition of the high quality of BBC World’s news programming, and was collected in Venice, by Richard Porter, the channel’s head of news.

Porter said: “It's been another challenging year in terms of international news, with the Israel-Lebanon conflict, the Mumbai train bombing and the UK terror plot, in addition to the ongoing situation in Iraq.

"BBC World's output has been exemplary in terms of breaking and explaining these stories to a global audience, and this award recognises the outstanding journalism synonymous with the channel in 2006.”

BBC World, which began as BBC World Service Television in 1991, is available in over 200 countries, and reaches 274 million homes and more than one million hotel rooms.

It is the fifth time in nine years that the BBC’s international news and information channel has received an award at the ceremony. BBC World was named Best News Channel in Europe in 1998, 2002 and 2004, and received a special Award for Excellence in News in 2005.