Emmy honours deceased news anchors, Katrina victims

LOS ANGELES - Television's stars paid tribute to the departed news anchors of the major US networks at the Emmy Awards on Sunday and acknowledged the victims of Hurricane Katrina by wearing flowers and trying to raise money for relief efforts.

Veteran NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and his CBS counterpart Dan Rather received a standing ovation onstage at the US television industry's top honours as a picture of ABC's Peter Jennings, who died last month from lung cancer at age 67, was displayed on a large screen behind them.

Brokaw resigned from NBC in November last year, and Rather stepped down from his post at CBS this past spring following a botched report on President George W. Bush's military record in the Vietnam War era.

"I know that I speak for both of us when I say how deeply touched we are by that reception, and it makes it all that much more poignant in the absence of our colleague, Peter Jennings," Brokaw said.

Rather talked of Jennings fondly by saying that he "left us too soon" with "too much good work ahead of him."

Brokaw said Jennings was once asked if the three rival anchors were friendly. "Yes, we are friends," Brokaw recalled Jennings saying, "and then he (Jennings) added laughingly, because we don't see each other very much."

Rather talked about the recent coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the damage and devastation to New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. "It reaffirms the need for strong quality television journalism," he said.

Katrina's victims were on the minds of the stars at the Emmys. Many of the actors and actresses wore white magnolia flowers pinned to their tuxedos and gowns in honour of the hurricane's victims.

Patricia Arquette, who won the Emmy for best actress in a drama for "Medium," told reporters backstage that she had not had much time to prepare for the awards because she was busy working the relief effort.

James Spader, the winner for best dramatic actor in "Boston Legal," said backstage that he was pleased to see so many of his fellow performers pitching in to help.

"I was pleased to see that right away, people from this business became involved," he told reporters. "It excuses all the sort of silliness that we spend our lives pursuing."

Onstage, many performers expressed sorrow for the victims and encouraged viewers to donate to relief causes, but one of the show's funniest moment came when outspoken comedian Jon Stewart was asked to talk about the aftermath of Katrina.

He launched into a comic routine in which all his critical statements or foul language about the government and the early relief effort were either bleeped out or covered up.

- REUTERS

* For more coverage of the Emmys, please visit the links below.