It has beaten off competition from the BBC's Newsnight and Ten O'Clock News shows and from Sky News, who were also nominated.
The award is the third in recent weeks to honour Channel 4 News. The team also recently won an International Emmy in New York for its coverage of the Iraq war.
It was a mark of international recognition for programme’s foreign coverage over the past year and was dedicated to Channel 4 News’ Gaby Rado and all the other journalists who lost their lives covering the conflict.
And the programme collected two prizes at the prestigious Royal Television Society journalism awards.
Jon Snow, Presenter of Channel 4 News, was first with his award for 'Presenter of the Year' and was described by the RTS as "... a man in total command of the modern-day presenter's role".
Lindsey Hilsum was also lauded for her groundbreaking coverage from Jenin last spring for Channel 4 News. Accepting the Specialist Journalist of the year award on her behalf, Channel 4 News editor, Jim Gray, said: "She is the best journalist I have worked with".
Elsewhere at the BAFTAs, comic Ricky Gervais chalked up a hat-trick of wins with best comedy performance for the third year in a row for his portrayal of nightmare boss David Brent in The Office Christmas special.
He said: "I've got six Baftas now, I don't know if that's a record, but if it is I want to go on Record Breakers. It's probably the last time I'll be up here for a while so this is the end of a chapter... well, apart from the DVD."
Julie Walters also scored a hat-trick, winning best actress for the third time, this time for her role in The Wife of Bath, part of the BBC's adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Walters played a bawdy middle-aged actress who begins a relationship with a toyboy, played by ex-EastEnder Paul Nicholls. She beat Dame Helen Mirren, Miranda Richardson and Gina McKee to the award.
She said: "I had so much fun making it, and on top of that I got to snog Paul Nicholls."
Bill Nighy won the best actor award for political thriller State of Play - adding to the film Bafta he won this year for Love, Actually.
He beat co-star David Morrissey, Jim Broadbent and Christopher Eccleston to the prize and said: "I'm truly surprised to win this. It was a pretty world-class group to be in, like a group of death in the World Cup."
Coronation Street won best continuing drama, beating Holby City, Casualty and The Bill - soap rival EastEnders failed to get a nomination.
Jonathan Ross was a double winner, taking home prizes for best entertainment performance and best entertainment programme, both for Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. The chat show beat both Pop Idol and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
Matt Lucas and David Walliams were celebrating after their sketch show Little Britain won best comedy. Walliams said he was happy just to be invited to the awards: "We are here for the first time so it's kind of thrilling to be nominated. I have just seen Joan Collins so I am very excited about that."
Other winners were Wife Swap, political drama The Deal, prison drama Buried and the BBC's The Secret Policeman, in which an undercover reporter exposed racism amongst young police recruits.
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