Public Media Pandemic Coverage Stands Out in RTDNA’s National Edward R. Murrow Awards

Wide-ranging coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic propelled public media to 45 National Edward R. Murrow Awards, announced recently by the Radio Television Digital News Association to honor the best in electronic journalism.

Winning public media coverage of the pandemic included FRONTLINE’s The Virus at Sea, the story of a New Yorker’s experience on a cruise ship as the coronavirus emerged around the world; WNIN’s COVID Between the Coasts project covering the pandemic in seven Midwestern states; KUNR’s partnership with Noticiero Móvil and This Is Reno to provide bilingual coverage of the pandemic in northern Nevada; WDET and Documenting Detroit’s COVID Diaries: Stories of Resilience, audio-visual diaries by commissioned artists told on WDET’s Instagram, WDET.org and on CultureShift; and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s continuing coverage of the economic impact of the pandemic on the state.

“Last year was a historic year for news by any standards, and public media rose to the challenge with innovative, exceptional work, countering misinformation with accurate facts, trusted information, and editorial integrity,” said Joy Lin, CPB vice president, journalism. “CPB is proud to support these journalists, producers and local stations. Their coverage is vital to the country and to their communities.” 

NPR won a total of four national Murrows, awards, including awards for its hard news coverage of the death of Breonna Taylor, shot in her Louisville apartment by police, and a reading of the Frederick Douglass speech What to the Slave is the Fourth Of July?, by Douglass’ descendants.

Public radio continued its dominance of the radio categories, with WBHM (Birmingham) and WLRN (Miami) claiming the overall excellence awards in the small and large market radio categories, as public radio stations won 31 of the 34 awards in those categories.

Winners by category:

Small Market Radio

• Overall Excellence: WBHM, Birmingham, AL
• Continuing Coverage: Four Major Wildfires Engulf California’s Central Coast,  KAZU, Monterey Bay Area, CA
• Digital: At the Finish Line, WUFT News, Gainesville, FL
• Excellence in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: KUNR and Noticiero Móvil's bilingual pandemic coverage, KUNR Public Radio, Noticiero Móvil and This Is Reno, Reno, NV
• Excellence in Innovation: COVID Between the Coasts,  WNIN and the University of Evansville, Evansville, IN
• Excellence in Sound: High School Football Takes the Field; An Attempt at Normal During Pandemic, NET, Lincoln, NE
• Excellence in Video: Despite Increasing Demand, Some W.Va. Apple Farmers Struggle
  West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Charleston, WV
• Excellence in Writing: 'He Didn't Deserve To Die'; State COVID Policy Remains As Disease Surges, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Sioux Falls, SD
• Feature Reporting: “Our Moms Have To Talk”: Pocket Dial Connects Grieving Moms, Vermont Public Radio, Colchester, VT
• Hard News: Fentress Released, Radio IQ/WVTF, Roanoke, VA
• Investigative Reporting: From Never Again to Again: Politics Trump Environmental Concerns About Mount Rushmore Fireworks, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Sioux Falls, SD
• News Documentary: Grandfamilies of the Opioid Crisis, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Charleston, WV
• News Series: Committed: How and Why Children Became the Fastest Growing Group Under Florida's Baker Act, WFSU Public Media, Health News Florida and USC-Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, Tallahassee, FL
• Newscast: Alaska News Nightly, Dec. 2, 2020, Alaska Public Media, Anchorage, AL
• Podcast: Brave Little State, Vermont Public Radio, Colchester, VT
• Sports Reporting: High School Football Takes The Field; An Attempt At Normal During Pandemic, NET, Lincoln, NE

Large Market Radio

• Overall Excellence: WLRN News, Miami
• Continuing Coverage: The pandemic's economic fallout in Oregon, OPB, Portland, OR
• Digital: Texas Public Radio Digital Coverage, Texas Public Radio, San Antonio, TX
• Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Shots in the Back: Exhuming the 1970 Augusta Riot, Georgia Public Broadcasting and Jessye Norman School of the Arts, Atlanta, GA
• Excellence in Innovation: COVID Diaries, WDET and Documenting Detroit, Detroit, MI
• Excellence in Sound: New Year's Day Music That Hasn't Been Heard in 500 Years, KQED, San Francisco, CA
• Excellence in Video: Atomic Vet Goes Back to Jazz School, CT Public, Hartford, CT
• Excellence in Writing: A Sarcastic Poker Player And Food Bank Volunteer: Family Remember a Kansas Citian Lost to COVID-19, KCUR, Kansas City, MO
• Feature Reporting: The Godfather of Clubbing, KUT, Austin, TX

• Hard News: Maryland Foster Children Stay in Hospitals Because They Have Nowhere Else To Go, WYPR, Baltimore, MD
• Investigative Reporting: Older and Overlooked, KQED, San Francisco, CA
• News Documentary: What the President Knew, WBUR/ON POINT, Boston, MA
• News Series: Dying on the Sheriff’s Watch, WBUR, Boston, MA
• Podcast: Motive Season 3, WBEZ Chicago, Chicago, IL
• Sports Reporting: As Winter Sports Resume, Parents And Schools Face A Painful Choice, WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, MA

Network Radio

• Digital: The Last Surviving 'Sex Slaves' of WWII Philippines, NPR, Washington, DC
• Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus, American Public Media, St. Paul, MN
• Excellence in Sound: Migrants displaced by fire at Moria camp on Lesbos: 'Nobody’s life is safe here', The World/PRX, Boston, MA
• Excellence in Video: ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth Of July?’ Descendants Read Frederick Douglass’ Speech, NPR, Washington, DC
• Feature Reporting: Coaxing Cops to Tackle Cybercrime? There's an App for That, NPR, Washington, DC
• Hard News: As the Nation Chants Her Name, Breonna Taylor's Family Grieves a Life “Robbed,” NPR, New York, NY
• News Documentary: At the Mercy of the Courts, Latino USA and Documented, New York, NY
• Podcast: American Rehab, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Emeryville, CA

Large Market Television

• News Documentary: Insight with John Ferrugia - Breakdown, Rocky Mountain PBS, Denver, CO

Network Television

• Excellence in Innovation: The Virus at Sea, FRONTLINE, Boston, MA
• Podcast: I’m Not a Monster, FRONTLINE, BBC Sounds, and BBC Panorama
  Boston, MA

National Student Winners

• Excellence in Audio Feature Reporting: Slavery On Long Island: The History That We Forget to Remember, WSHU Public Radio, Sacred Heart University and the Stony Brook University School of Journalism
• Excellence in Audio Hard News: Race Relations in the Country and Community on Minds Voters say in Your Election Blueprint, WAER, Syracuse University
• Excellence in Video Feature Reporting:, Beyond the Finish Line, WUFT-TV, University of Florida

To subscribe to CPB spotlights, press releases and grant announcements, go to cpb.org/subscribe.