BBC's Simpson wins Emmy for report on his 'liberation' of Kabul

The BBC's John Simpson has won a coveted international television award for his notorious "liberation" of Kabul. The corporation's world affairs editor boasted on national radio at the time that the BBC had freed the Afghan capital with his entry into the city after the Nothern Alliance troops stopped short.

Now he has won a coveted Emmy award, shared with his cameraman, Joe Phua. The Emmy committee in New York made the award for "coverage of the fall of Kabul".

Simpson's oddly chosen phrase immediately after the event, on 13 November last year, will live in the public memory. It prompted ridicule in the press at the time, with the Daily Mirror running the headline "A Prize Burka".

Simpson recently chose the incident as his "greatest mistake", when interviewed for The Independent's media pages. He said: "I didn't realise, in my innocence, that you don't make jokes, because the British press doesn't have a sense of humour. I've been a journalist for 36 years, but until you're on the receiving end of the violent spite of journalists, you don't know how dreadful it is.

"It never occurred to me that other journalists would think that the greatest achievement in the BBC's recent news history would be gall and wormwood. Last year, to have two correspondents in Kabul with a camera, when nobody else could get in there, then to have the only team that got in there at the fall, was a triumph of planning and of the effort that all of us had put into it.

"So when Sue MacGregor said to me, 'I don't quite understand this, but Northern Alliance troops stopped at the entrance to Kabul and the Taliban have fled: who liberated Kabul?' I laughed and thought I'd make an amusing self-deprecating joke, and said, 'I suppose it was the BBC'."

Three other Emmy awards were won by Britain at the ceremony in New York on Monday night. In the popular arts category, the BBC's The Kumars at No 42 and Channel 4's Faking It were joint winners. The BBC had another winner with Stig of the Dump in the children's category.

Jana Bennett, director of television at the BBC, said: "I am delighted these programmes have been honoured in such prestigious awards. It is a credit to all involved. This demonstrates the wide range of quality UK production from the BBC; from powerful coverage of international events to groundbreaking new comedy and original children's drama."

WHAT HE SAID AND THE REACTION

By Sam Peters

JOHN SIMPSON: "It's an exhilarating feeling to be liberating a city. Yes, the BBC has liberated Kabul. It is the BBC people who liberated the city ­ we got in before the Northern Alliance."

DAVID BLUNKETT, interviewed immediately after the report: "I'm still reeling from the news the BBC and John Simpson have taken Kabul."

JULIAN MANYON, ITN correspondent: "One can think of all sorts of comparisons between John Simpson and a B52 bomber. It's clear which did the most damage in pushing back the Taliban."

The BBC's WILLIAM REEVE (who had been in the city for five days): "It was sort of wry amusement when I heard John broadcasting, liberating the city single- handedly from the Taliban."

MARTIN FRIZELL of GMTV: "We are sure William Reeve and Rageh Omar will be delighted to have been liberated by John Simpson."