Ene Riisna

Ene Riisna (born 27 June 1938)[1] is an Estonian-born American television producer. She is known for her work on the American news show 20/20.

Ene Riisna
Born (1938-07-27) July 27, 1938
Tallinn, Estonia
OccupationTelevision producer

Early life and education

Ene Riisna was born in Tallinn, Estonia. Her family fled to Sweden in September 1944 when the Soviets occupied Estonia.

Riisna earned an Honors degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Toronto, University College. She briefly worked, successfully, as a fashion model in Toronto and London, England, then returned to Toronto and became a producer-director for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, then a freelancer for the BBC in London.

Broadcasting

In 1970, Riisna's first job in network television in America was the executive producer of a new morning program, "Woman", for the CBS station in New York. The appointment made her one of the first women to create and produce a television news program.[2] Later she produced documentaries for NBC and PBS and wrote magazine articles including for MS magazine.[3]

Riisna became a producer of the well-known news show 20/20 at ABC News.[4][5] Over the course of the next two decades she produced a series of Emmy Award winning stories,[6] many Barbara Walter’s high profile interviews [7] (Margaret Thatcher, Boris Yeltsen,[7] Nancy Reagan, Barbra Streisand [8] and others.) For her work she was awarded over a dozen major awards including two Emmys, a Television Academy General Achievement Award, and Columbia School of Journalism's prestigious Dupont Award. Her subjects included an investigation of the effects of the use Agent Orange in Vietnam and the story of the Zumwalt family.[9][10]

Riisna also produced and directed documentary films for ABC News with anchor Peter Jennings as host.[11][12]

Presently Riisna, retired from 20/20, works with her husband James L. Greenfield who heads the Independent Journalism Foundation, which he created in 1990 for the study of journalism, and which has centers throughout Eastern Europe, Vietnam and Cambodia.

References
  1. "Ene Riisna". Connecticut Registered Voters. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. "CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Greenfield/Riisna Gift to Support International Journalism Programs - CUNY Graduate School of Journalism". CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
  3. Lynne B. Iglitzin; Ruth A. Ross, eds. (1976). Women in the world: a comparative study. University of California, Santa Barbara. Dept. of Political Science; Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Clio Books.
  4. Anthony Summers (17 October 2013). Goddess: The Secret Lives Of Marilyn Monroe. Orion Publishing Group. pp. 314–. ISBN 978-1-78022-707-8.
  5. David Weaver-Zercher (2001). The Amish in the American Imagination. JHU Press. pp. 245–. ISBN 978-0-8018-6681-4.
  6. "ABC, PBS lead news Emmy nominees". Variety.
  7. "20/20 {BARBARA WALTERS INTERVIEWS BORIS YELTSIN} (TV)". The Paley Center for Media.
  8. "20/20 {BARBRA STREISAND SEGMENT ONLY} (TV)". The Paley Center for Media.
  9. "[Elmo Zumwalt, III : transripts of the television program 20/20, Oct. 2, 1986, Sept. 10, 1987 and Aug. 19, 1988.].". worldcat.org.
  10. http://cdn.journalism.cuny.edu/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/10/CUNY-J-Newsletter-oct-13.pdf
  11. Thomas Riggs (May 2004). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Gale / Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-7876-7098-6.
  12. "ABC NEWS CLOSE-UP: HOSTAGE! (TV)". The Paley Center for Media.
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