'Heroin's Children' and more nominees about the opioid epidemic at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a bonus post

"I have one last topic to examine, the opioid crisis.  I'll have a bonus post tonight on it.  Stay tuned."  So I concluded 'Cries from Syria' versus 'The Wounds of War' plus other News and Documentary Emmy nominees about the Syrian Civil War and so I begin this evening by examining "Heroin's Children" on Al Jazeera English USA's "Fault Lines," which earned three nominations, Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report, Best Story in a Newsmagazine, and Outstanding Editing: News, making it the most nominated entry about the opioid epidemic.

Joining "Heroin's Children" in the field for Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report are another report on the opioid epidemic, "America Addicted" on "PBS NewsHour," the "60 Minutes" segment "Out of Darkness," "CNN Special Reports" on "Separated: Saving the Twins," and "Sunday Morning" segment "Evergreen."  My usual method of handicapping the nominees favors "Herion's Children" simply because it has the most nominations, but that's not guaranteed to be foolproof.  Neither is my other way, which is to pick repeat winners.  For example, PBS NewsHour's "The End of AIDS?" won Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report last year, so it would be my other choice and in fact would be more likely as I'm sure there are more PBS voters in the electorate than Al Jazeera voters.  With that in mind, here is the opening of "America Addicted" on "PBS NewsHour," Opioid addiction is the biggest drug epidemic in U.S. history. How’d we get here?

Every day brings another story about the depth of the country’s opioid crisis. A rise of pain killer prescriptions from doctors and a pharmaceutical industry eager to boost sales in the 1990s sparked a wave of addiction that shot up by almost 500 percent in the last 15 years. As a prologue to our series covering the opioid crisis, “America Addicted,” William Brangham reports on how we got here.

To watch the rest, here's the playlist.  If  my readers do, they'll encounter Huntington, West Virginia Fire Chief Jan Rader, one of the people profiled in "Heroin(e)," one of two Oscar nominees that are competing for Outstanding Short Documentary and the one I think is the favorite.

For the next two categories, it's time for me to be a good environmentalist and recycle beginning with the relevant passage from 'Charlottesville: Race and Terror' tied for most nominations at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

The competition for Outstanding Editing: News appears just as stiff, as Al Jazeera International USA's "Fault Lines: Heroin's Children" has two other nominations for Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report and Best Story in a Newsmagazine.  The other nominees, "50 Years of 60 Minutes" and fellow "VICE News Tonight" reports "Battle for Marawi: On the Hunt for ISIS Militants" and "Libya: Intercepting Migrants," only have nominations in this category.  My take is that the contest for this award is between Charlottesville and opiates/opioids.

Now to recycle from 'Cries from Syria' versus 'The Wounds of War' plus other News and Documentary Emmy nominees about the Syrian Civil War.

The final category for which "The Wounds of War" earned a nomination is Best Story in a Newsmagazine, where it is competing against fellow "60 Minutes" segment "Investigating the Opioid Epidemic: The Whistleblower and Too Big to Prosecute" produced in cooperation with The Washington Post, the "Fault Lines" report "Heroin's Children" from Al Jazeera International USA, another nominee about the opioid epidemic with two other nominations for Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report and Outstanding Editing: News, and two episodes of "Frontline," "Battle for Iraq" and "Inside Yemen."  The former also has a nomination for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story, while this is the only nomination for the latter.  Based on its total number of nominations, I think "The Wounds of War" is the favorite, but it is facing stiff competition for the trophy, particularly from "Heroin's Children."

With this quote, I've managed to name all the nominees about the opioid epidemic, as "60 Minutes" segment "Investigating the Opioid Epidemic: The Whistleblower and Too Big to Prosecute" produced in cooperation with The Washington Post, which is also nominated for Outstanding Investigative Report in a Newsmagazine.  In that category, it is competing against "20/20" in partnership with The Investigative Fund's "Life and Death at the Border," fellow "60 Minutes" segment "Friendly Fire," "Fault Lines" report "Haiti by Force," and the "On Assignment with Richard Engel" report "Panama."  Only "Investigating the Opioid Epidemic: The Whistleblower and Too Big to Prosecute" has more than one nomination, so I'm picking it as the favorite.

Just as I embedded all of "Charlottesville: Race and Terror," I am sharing all of Heroin's Children: Inside the US opioid crisis | Fault Lines.

The United States is going through the worst drug crisis in its history. It now claims more lives than gun deaths, tears families apart - and shows no signs of abating.

That's it for the nominees at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, as the winners are being announced as this entry posts.  I plan on resuming the series about the winners of the Creative Arts and Primetime Emmy Awards that has 'The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story' is the big winner among limited series at the Emmy Awards as its most recent installment, probably with the drama series winners.  Stay tuned.