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Edward R. murrow awards 2013 honoring excellence in electronic journalism

Awards Dinner Show October& 14, 2013 , New York

Radio Digital News Association Place Ad Here Table Of Contents

Event Sponsors...... 5

Letter from the Chairman...... 7

Presenters...... 8

Overall Excellence...... 11

Use of Video/Sound...... 13

Investigative Reporting...... 14

Continuing Coverage...... 15

Writing...... 16

Hard News...... 17

Feature Reporting...... 20

News Documentary...... 21

Newscasts...... 22

Websites...... 24

Sports Reporting...... 25

News Series...... 27

Breaking News Coverage...... 28

UNITY/...... 29 Proudly Congratulates WFAA-TV and KMOV-TV and all the recipients of the 2013 National Murrow Awards

Investigative Reporting

News Documentary Reporting: Hard News

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Dallas/Fort Worth: WFAA-TV, TXCN. : KHOU-TV. Phoenix: KTVK, KASW-TV. /Tacoma: KING-TV, KONG-TV, NWCN. St. Louis: KMOV-TV. Portland: KGW-TV. Charlotte: WCNC-TV. : KENS-TV. Hampton/Norfolk: WVEC-TV. Austin: KVUE-TV. Louisville: WHAS-TV. : WWL-TV, WUPL-TV. Tucson: KMSB-TV, KTTU-TV. Spokane: KREM-TV, KSKN-TV. Boise: KTVB. Event Sponsors

Diamond Sponsors

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RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 5

Letter from the Chairman RTDNA Awards Dinner & Show

Grand Hyatt - New York, New York October 14, 2013 The Radio Television Digital News Association is the world’s largest professional organization exclusively serving the electronic news profession. RTDNA’s members include local and network news executives, news directors, producers, reporters, digital news professionals, as well as educators and students. Founded as a grassroots organization in 1946, RTDNA works to protect the rights of electronic journalists, provides training and education, and honors outstanding work in the profession.

Welcome to the Radio Television Digital News Association’s 43rd annual Edward R. Murrow awards celebration.

I always come away from this evening energized and inspired by the award-winning work. I hope tonight will do the same for you.

As the evening progresses, we will see and hear portions of the winning work, but I encourage you to take time to visit our website, RTDNA.org, to experience the pieces in full. You’ll also find interviews with some of the winners to provide you with insight into how that work was produced.

RTDNA.org is also a great place to learn more about the association and keep up to date with our efforts to support broadcast and digital journalists. Whether it is training and education, lending a voice to ethical questions or access problems, providing scholarships to journalism students or defending the First Amendment, we are here for you and encourage your feedback on how we can be more responsive to your needs.

I would like to take a moment to thank all the journalists who have been on “the front lines” in the last year. From Superstorm Sandy to Sandy Hook to the bombings, not to mention those overseas in war- torn areas, scores of journalists have been thrust into dangerous and stressful situations to bring us reports of tragedy and devastation, and in some cases, human triumph and hope. I am hopeful that they find the strength they need to do this important job and are being supported by their respective news organizations with the resources they need, both professional and personal.

On behalf of the RTDNA Board of Directors and our dedicated staff, thank you for attending tonight’s awards ceremony and for your continued support for RTDNA.

Sincerely,

Chris Carl Chairman, RTDNA

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 7 2013 Presenters Congratulations

Richelle Carey Chris Carl RTDNA

Natalie Morales NBC News ABC News CBS News

T.J. Quinn Dan Raviv ESPN CBS News

8 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org Grand Hyatt | 1000 H Street NW | , DC 20001 to all of the 2013 winners! CongratulationsPlace Ad Here Board of Directors 2013-2014

RTDNA Chairman RTDNF Chairman RTDNF Secretary/Treasurer Chris Carl Vincent Duffy Ed Esposito

Chair-Elect RTDNA Treasurer RTDNA/RTDNF Executive Director Amy Tardif Loren Tobia Mike Cavender

Kathy Walker Jam Sardar Mark Kraham Jerry Walsh KOA Radio WLNS-TV WHAG-TV Nexstar Group, Inc.

Brandon Mercer Randy Bell Terry Scott Harvey Nagler Sacramento, CA WMSI-FM/WJDX-FM The Canadian Press CBS News

Scott Libin Andrew Vrees Sean McGarvy David Louie Internet Broadcasting WCVB-TV KGO-TV

Carlton Houston Bill Roswell Dan Shelley Janice S. Gin KFOR-TV KYW Newsradio Radio One, Inc. Oakland, CA

Save The Date

24th Annual First Amendment Dinner Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Grand Hyatt | 1000 H Street NW | Washington, DC 20001

Overall Excellence

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market KAO AM, , CO WVUE-TV, New Orleans, LA

Newsradio 850 KOA is the 24/7 news WVUE’s entry illustrates source for Colorado. Whether it is a our tireless dedication to the horrific shooting at a , community we serve. Every day raging wildfires or the latest move by our newsroom makes a conscious the Denver Broncos we will be on the effort to dig deeper. From our year-long chronicle of the story. We do it with a modest staff disappearing coast, to investigations that matter, to our non- of dedicated people devoted to their stop continuing coverage of Hurricane Isaac, WVUE is there. craft. Television-Network , Canada This winning entry for Radio-Network Global National included CBS Radio News, New York extensive coverage of natural disasters, an CBS Radio News was the first to report international manhunt last year’s tragic shooting at an Aurora, for a Canadian killer and Colorado, movie theater. Five months investigative reports on later, it was among the first to report the what caused a fatal mall true death toll at Sandy Hook Elementary collapse among other School. On story after story, CBS Radio stories. It showcased News was in front of the competition on the work of not only every member of the Global National the air and on your smart phone. team, but also the collective efforts of our stations across the country. We were honoured to hear the judges say our entry had “strong international coverage and consistently let the Radio-Small Network news tell the story without resorting to emotional tricks.” WJBC, Bloomington, IL The WJBC submission for Overall Excellence includes some Online News Organization - Local Tribune, , MN of the best work of the station’s staff in 2012 including live coverage of a school shooting in the community, live Election The Star Tribune composite for overall excellence showcased Night coverage, drought concerns, human interest pieces, as video from summer flooding that displaced hundreds in well as captivating sports Duluth, Minn., to an investigative report on a war vet who play-by-play from our tried to commit suicide that resulted in important policy broadcasters at the high changes, children at risk in Minnesota daycare facilities and school, college and minor brain trauma in former NFL athletes. league levels.

Online News Organization- National Television-Large Market , Washington, D.C. KYW-TV, , PA The Washington Post Coverage of Super Storm Sandy Overall Excellence win dominated the CBS 3 Eyewitness highlighted some of News entry, including the use of the outstanding work technology to be live in the middle of 2012 including of the storm as it hit. Other major political coverage form stories included the Jerry Sandusky the campaign trail, trial, I-Team Investigations and explainer videos, and in-depth reporting in multi-media political coverage anchored from the Presidential conventions projects. and debates.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 11

Use of Video/Sound

Sound video

Radio-Large Market Television-Large Market WLRN-Miami Herald News, Miami, FL WNBC-TV, New York The Storm: Remembering Hurricane Andrew Michael DelGiudice Composite “The Storm,” a non-narrated account of living through “We Didn’t Disappear” documents the Occupy Wall Street Hurricane Andrew, weaves together voices from more than protest march on May 1, 2012. It takes the viewer behind the 30 hours of contemporary interviews as well as more than 24 scenes of the heated protests and reflects the position of the hours of archival news footage, 911 calls, home videos and a activists, and the relationship between them and the police. reading of a diplomatic document. All natural sound use in “Wil Power” it is a touching account of a young boy who lost the piece is real. his leg to bone cancer. With a prosthetic limb replacement, the piece shows you how Wil simply won’t let his disability limit him in any way. “Nobody Messes with Marcus” is about an Olympian from Staten Island. The piece takes us to Marcus’ hometown, and demonstrates his commitment and sacrifice to achieve his goals as he prepares for the Olympic Radio-Network boxing competition. CNN, , GA Saturday Night Fever’s Brooklyn Legacy

The iconic movie was released on Television-Small Market December 16, 1977. Bensonhurst, KTUL-TV, Tulsa, OK Brooklyn – the neighborhood in which Collett’s Compilation it was filmed – was as much a character in the movie as was John Travolta. CNN’s Steve Kastenbaum Both stories in this compilation I will visits Bensonhurst to talk with the people who live there now remember forever. Ryder Herring about the legacy the movie left on the community. and his family invited me into their family in a very difficult time, and we have formed a friendship that Radio-Small Market will last a lifetime. Winston the WIUM/WIUW, Macomb, IL Boxer will always symbolizes what Audio Postcard from Snake Alley everyone should be, forgiving and The annual Snake Alley giving. To love and give back after all Art Fair in Burlington, he went through really touched me. Iowa brings all sorts of Recipient: Rob Collett artists to town. Rich Egger produced this audio postcard to introduce us to some of the diverse people Television-Network who art in the NBC Nightly News, , New York region, including fine art, The Virtual Choir A View from the top of Snake Alley folk art and music. Experiencing the Virtual Choir is like visiting Online News Organization- Local another world. Thousands KPCC, Pasadena, CA sing, not on stage, but in cyberspace. Composer Eric SCPR.org Whitacre created a choir, KPCC reporters have been tracking and a community, by putting Southland athletes as they prepare to head together individual videos with stunning results, chronicled to for the Olympic games. Our by NBC News correspondent Kristin Dahlgren, producer L.A.-to-London series will continue that Mary Beth Toole and editor Jody Henenfeld. coverage by exploring local connections to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 13 Investigative Reporting

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market KQED/The Center for Investigative Reporting, CTV Island, Victoria, BC , CA Wharfside Restaurant Troubles Broken Shield: Exposing Abuses and ’s Developmental Centers CTV News began investigating when a former cook with the Wharfside Restaurant came to us. He was owed money by the Decades ago, California restaurant, and couldn’t afford to pay his rent because of it. created a special police After our first story aired, dozens of people contacted us, all force to patrol exclusively telling similar stories. In the following days, we uncovered at its five state developmental centers–taxpayer-funded more information and ran a series of stories on Wharfside’s institutions where patients with severe autism and cerebral employment practices, resulting in unpaid employees finally palsy have been beaten, tortured and raped by staff members. being paid the money they This state force, the Office of Protective Services, does an were owed, and ultimately, abysmal job bringing perpetrators to justice. in the owner resigning control of the restaurant. Radio-Network Public Radio International, Minneapolis, MN Television-Network The State Integrity Investigation CBS News, New York Three non-profit organizations and 16 public radio stations : Stuxnet graded each state government’s risk of corruption on 330 The sophisticated computer worm that sabotaged Iran’s measures. Reporters produced more than 90 stories, talk nuclear program is now out there, its idea and methods shows and town halls in 15 states examining issues such exposed to terrorists or rogue nations who could use them to as lobbying, campaign finance, and open records. The create their own cyberweapon. reports. Graham investigation led to reforms in six states. Messick is the producer.

Radio-Small Market Online News Organization-Local WITF, Harrisburg, PA The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA Abandoned Wells Glamour Beasts: The Side of Elephant Captivity Pennsylvania hosted the world’s first oil wells and those same sites Zoos’ efforts to preserve and propagate elephants have largely are creating problems for the state’s failed, both in Seattle and nationally. Chai, an elephant at new fracking-powered natural gas boom. WITF’s StateImpact Woodland Park Zoo, underwent 112 artificial insemination Pennsylvania’s investigation uncovered a mysterious accident attempts -- all unsuccessful. The infant-mortality rate for at a fracking site, and tied it to a well initially drilled during elephants in zoos is almost triple the rate in the wild. the Great Depression.

Television-Large Market Online News Organization-National WFAA-TV, Dallas-Forth Worth, TX The Washington Post, Washington Denticaid: Medicaid Dental Abuse in Texas Convicted defendants left uninformed of forensic flaws found by Justice Department The story began with a simple question: How can clinics bill Medicaid for putting A Washington Post investigation uncovered that Justice braces on children when they are rarely Department officials have known for years that flawed medically necessary? Reporter Byron forensic work might have led to the convictions of potentially Harris pursued that lead for two years and innocent people, but prosecutors failed to notify defendants learned that dentists were looting Texas or their attorneys in many cases they knew were troubled. The Medicaid for millions. The result: new project includes videos, an interactive graphic and a database state laws aimed at curbing abuses we uncovered. of cases, in addition to the print stories.

14 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org Continuing Coverage

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market WCBS, New York KXRM, Colorado Springs, CO The Fury of Sandy Waldo Canyon Fire This entry represents the work of the entire WCBS Newsradio The Waldo Canyon Fire ignited just west of Colorado Springs. 880 staff in covering Hurricane Sandy. The storm devastated With unpredictable 30-40 mph wind gusts, drought conditions, entire neighborhoods, temperatures above 100 degrees and humidity less than 10 left millions without percent, conditions were perfect for the fire to turn into one power, and crippled the of the biggest stories to nation’s largest city. hit Colorado Springs. When listeners needed This is a snapshot them most, the staff at of our hours of WCBS provided a calm continuous coverage. and trusted voice.

Radio-Network ABC News, New York Hurricane Sandy Television-Network CNN, Atlanta, GA ABC News Radio provided thorough, CNN’s Reporting from Inside Syria extensive coverage of the Superstorm Sandy’s As the unrest in Syria has spiraled punch and its lasting out of control, CNN journalists impact. Their correspondents fanned out across the East have taken grave risks to tell Coast to bring listeners the full picture of Sandy’s wrath and the unfolding story of the war. stayed in those areas during the slow, painful recovery process Venturing into Syria both with and for months after the storm. without official visas, and using a variety of storytelling methods, CNN teams put names and faces on some of the thousands Radio-Small Market dead, maimed and arrested, while the overall network coverage supported their courageous reporting with further context and WITF, Harrisburg, PA analysis. Aftershocks of the Sandusky Scandal

The impact of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case continued to be felt at Penn State in 2012. WITF followed Video-National all the twists and turns of the scandal, including the death of The Denver Post, Denver, CO legendary football coach Joe Paterno, Sandusky’s trial and the Colorado Fire Season punishing sanctions handed down by the NCAA. Colorado’s 2012 wildfire season arrived early and hit hard. Nearly 400,000 acres burned in 4,167 blazes between March Television-Large Market and December. Nearly 700 homes were wrecked. And, for the KXAS-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX first time in , civilian lives were lost in a series of super- Driven to Distraction hot fires driven by heavy winds. This nine-month-long investigation revealed serious crashes and injuries from distractions caused by dashboard-mounted computers in police cars. It led to significant policy changes at two of the largest police departments in Texas, sparked action from the world’s largest organization of police leaders and became mandatory safety training in one state.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 15 Writing

WBZ RADIO LOGOS REVISED 6.23.10 Radio-Large Market Radio-Small Market WBZ, Boston, MA WITF, Harrisburg, PA A Christmas Poem Hang Tough: Dink Winters in Normandy It was a sad duty to cover A monument in the likeness of central the tragedy in Newtown, 1030 Pennsylvania native Major Dick to record the shaky voices, Winters, leader of the famed Band of to chronicle the tears. NEWS RADIO Brothers, was unveiled in Normandy But in that town, there on the anniversary of D-Day. WITF’s was something greater than grief, fear and anger. It was Tim Lambert reports from France on something greater that was captured in A Christmas Poem. how Winters and the statue symbolize the leadership of all U.S. junior officers Radio-Network 1030 during the invasion. CNN, Atlanta, GA NEWS RADIO Sandy: Memories of the Jersey Shore Television-Large Market KARE-TV, Minneapolis, MN Among the areas hardest hit by Boyd Huppert Hurricane Sandy is a stretch of coast known simply as the Boyd Huppert is marking his 30th Jersey Shore. Before the area year in television news – firm in his became synonymous with a belief that newsrooms shoot video, hard-partying reality show, it but storytellers create experiences. was a place where countless His collection of stories highlights a families made memories. One range of emotions, from a flash flood of those families was David helicopter rescue, to a single city Vigilante’s. A senior vice block that is home to six couples married more than 50 years. president of CNN, Vigilante sat down and wrote about all of the memories he made Television-Small Market on the shore growing up and he shared some of those KTUL-TV, Tulsa, OK memories with CNN Radio. Burt Mummolo’s Writing Composite My entry was a writing compilation. Video-National I tried to demonstrate range New York Times, New York with my selection of stories. I’m proudest of the moments where Chinook Down, by Alex Quade humor came into play. I like making people laugh, especially Alex Quade’s video special for when they’re watching the news website, Chinook Down, reveals the full story and human and don’t expect to laugh. toll behind a WikiLeaks headline of a Chinook helicopter Recipient shot down by surface-to-air missile in Afghanistan, killing Burt Mummolo all onboard. Alex Quade Television-Network was supposed to be on that CBS News. New York helicopter. She survived to report firsthand on The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley: On The Road the fierce firefight and In a small town east of Portland, , there is a man who recovery. For five years, has spent his entire life helping his neighbors. Now in his Quade gathered material time of need, they are giving back. CBS News correspondent on the attack, obtaining Steve Hartman unreleased Pentagon found this story documents via FOIA. Quade’s video is a tribute to the on the road in troops she was embedded and nearly died with, and the Corbett, Oregon. effects of PTSD.

16 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org Hard News

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market WBEZ, , IL WRGB, Albany, NY The Weight of the City’s Violence, on One School Principal Bus Investigation My entry was a writing compilation. I tried to demonstrate A low-cost bus carrier that had been ignoring safety range with my selection of stories. I’m proudest of the violations for years was shut down by the Federal DOT moments where humor came into play. I like making but as Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke discovered, people laugh, especially when they’re watching the news the company continued to operate anyway. Congress and don’t expect to laugh. eventually passed a new safety rating system for discount operators after Jennifer’s series aired.

Radio-Network Television-Network CNN, Atlanta, GA CNN, Atlanta, GA When Police Shoot CNN Nick Paton Walsh’s Reporting from Inside Syria When cops shot a gunman outside the Empire State Building they also wounded nine innocent bystanders. CNN’s Steve Kastenbaum says while the shooting seemed justified, their actions are under scrutiny.

Radio-Small Market WUFT-FM, Gainesville, FL Cedar Key Oyster Industry On the Brink CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walsh provides a set of gripping accounts of the war in Syria during some of the Florida oysters suffered high mortality rates in the 2012 fiercest fighting in Aleppo. His superb writing and sharp harvest season. The devastating harvest had an adverse observations combine with photojournalist Ricardo effect on businesses which rely on the oyster crop in Garcia Vilanova’s brazen camerawork to give viewers a the seafood community close-up view of the fight in Aleppo and what it means for of Cedar Key. Florida the wider war. Governor Rick Scott says Florida’s oyster industry is approaching Online News Organization-National a collapse and needs , Boston, MA help to survive. Where’s Caleigh? It has been five weeks since the little girl with the Pebbles ponytail and winsome dimples disappeared. Gone, too, are the lives her loved ones led, Television-Large Market replaced by an agonizing KMOV, St. Louis, MO wait and the devastating Cahokia School Junket question: Where is Caleigh? The Cahokia school district fired teachers and can’t afford The early days of grief- to fix its high school, but its school board spends far more stricken planning for a on travel than any other St. Louis area district. KMOV- funeral have turned into TV followed three Cahokia school board members on a weeks of waiting for some junket to Boston. KMOV revealed that every presentation word, some sign, anything. at the conference was available on the internet for free. Her family now believes — wants to believe — that Caleigh may be alive.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 17

Feature Reporting

Radio-Large Market Television-Large Market WLRN Miami Herlald News, Miami, FL KARE-TV, Minneapolis, MN Her Own Little Neighborhood of Love “Her Own Little Paris” “Neighborhood of Love” presented a challenge for reporter tells the story of Ruth Boyd Huppert and photojournalist Jonathan Malat. Twelve Greenfield, a Miami- characters in one news story are simply too many. So how born-and-bred pianist to hold it all together? That’s just one of the surprises in this from a privileged white heartwarming love story. family. While studying music in 1950s Paris, Ruth discovers a Television-Small Market previously unknown KHQ, Spokane, WA racially-integrated social and artistic scene. She says to The Eyes Of A Hero herself, “What is it that I lost out on when I was younger?” Meanwhile, Jimmy Ford, a gifted teenage black pianist from “The Eyes of a Hero” honors soldiers who made the ultimate the Miami neighborhood once known as “Colored Town,” sacrifice and highlights a Vietnam Veteran who paints needs a piano teacher – a good one, someone like Ruth who portraits of the fallen studied with Arthur Schnabel. By now Ruth is back in Miami, to ensure they are and Jimmy becomes her first student in the school for the never forgotten. With arts she founded, with students and teachers from different the help of Michael races, years before Miami public schools were desegregated. Reagan’s incredible art The school lasted 25 years. we remember heroes taken from us in the Radio-Network wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. CBS Radio News, New York The Man Aisle Television-Network It’s not normally a national news story when ESPN, Bristol, CT a supermarket reconfigures one of its aisles, but when CBS News Correspondent Heather Marko Cheseto-Running for his Life Bosch stumbled upon an experiment at a Arriving at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2008, Manhattan grocery store, it became one. Kenyan cross-country runner Marko Cheseto quickly became Heather’s clever writing and creative use UAA’s most decorated athlete. But on a bone-chilling night of sound combined for a very entertaining in November of 2011, Cheseto went for a run… and vanished. feature. It was a run that would forever change this competitor’s life and future career.

Radio-Small Network Video-National Public Media, Tuscon, AZ Yahoo! Studios, Santa Monica, CA The Battle of Picacho Pass, Brought Back to Life Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge Each year, hundreds of The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic landmark of San people gather in the desert Francisco and, tragically, one of the most popular places in near Tucson to re-enact the the world to commit suicide. Few know this than Kevin -most battle of the Briggs, a sergeant with the Civil War. Meet some of the California Highway Patrol re-enactors, learn about the who has talked hundreds of battle’s history and re-live the people out of jumping. days of hardtack and hoop skirts.

20 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org News documentary

Radio-Large Market Television-Large Market WBEZ, Chicago, IL KMOV-TV, St. Louis, MO Mike and Victor: A Family Story War Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City Simply and beautifully told, the story is, KMOV’s documentary investigates the as Kotlowitz writes, one of “differences impact of corruption on the East St. that bind... what happens when roles Louis, Illinois area, one of the poorest become reversed. But in the end it’s and most violent communities in really rather simple. It’s a story about America. KMOV’s reporting exposes how one family is made and then police misconduct, corruption by public remade.” officials, inhumane housing conditions, and the business deals between the Radio-Network area’s biggest slumlord and a mayor. State of the Re: Union/NPR/PRX, Jacksonville, FL KMOV’s reporting prompted criminal charges, court- ordered fines and resignations. As Black As We Wish to Be There’s a tiny town in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio Television-Small Market where, for a century, residents have shared the common WVUE-TV, New Orleans, LA bond of identifying as African-American despite the fact Disappearing Defenses that most look white. The traditional notion of “race” has ’s coastal land loss, estimated at 1,900 square miles, been tossed on its head leading dramatically increases the region’s exposure to tropical to discrimination from the storms and hurricanes. In the half-hour documentary town next door, internal family “Disappearing Defenses,” WVUE Anchor John Snell and struggles, and searches for new Photographer Paul Rodgers examine ambitious plans to identities. piece back together the coastline and complex scientific, engineering and political obstacles. Radio-Small Market WFIU/WTIU, Bloomington, IN Television-Network Progress Report: Education in Indiana Film at Eleven/Oregon , Brooklyn, NY Most of the headlines about education in Indiana are about Haiti: Where Did the Money Go schools outside the traditional public school districts — charter schools, private schools accepting vouchers, and We followed this story for more schools under new management after state takeover. Their than a year and a half, tracking impact cannot be ignored, and we discuss them at length in the paper trail and talking with Progress Report. But these schools enroll less than 5 percent relief experts, and often we were the first group of journalists of the state’s students. to venture into many of the temporary camps in Haiti. What To Hoosiers who don’t live in charter school hotbeds, we found led to questions of transparency or accountability urban areas, or a community where a voucher school is among international aid organizations. Ultimately the film geographically accessible, these headlines can therefore addresses the instinctive humanitarian urge to help, and seem somewhat distant. Yet everyone senses something has asks, how can we all do better at doing good? changed in their own school. Online News Organization-National Online News Organization-Local The Denver Post, Denver, CO Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN Aurora Heroes In the Footsteps of Little Crow What would I do? When the lights go down in a movie The multimedia project “In the theater, you are alone, even in the crowd. From practically Footsteps of Little Crow” looked the opening scene of “The Dark Knight Rises,” pretend guns at one of the darkest chapters in fire and actors shriek. But then, during a quiet scene, the Minnesota’s past, through the rise sound of gunshots – suddenly, confusingly – comes alive and fall of one Dakota leader during again in Theater 9 at the Century Aurora 16. the U.S.-Dakota war of 1862.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 21 newscasts

Radio-Large Market Radio-Small Market KRLD, Dallas, TX KFGO, Fargo, ND KRLD Afternoon News 12:30pm KFGO News

A tornado outbreak hit the The award winning newscast Dallas-Fort Worth area in contained an exclusive report April of 2012. At least 13 from Jim Monk on a police tornadoes were confirmed brutality lawsuit in Federal Court. Although the case was causing damage to more than pending and the dashcam video was not available from the one thousand homes. KRLD court system, Monk managed to obtain the video through reporters responded to the a source close to the case. The video produced thousands devastated neighborhoods to of views at .com. In the same newscast, reporter Don report on the damage, stories of survival and vital information Haney did a work up on concerns with the pointing of lasers for the communities impacted. at commercial and private aircraft on approach to Fargo’s Hector International Airport. The newscast was anchored by Bonnie Amistadi.

Radio-Network CBS News Radio, New York Television-Large Market CBS News Hourly KUSA-TV, Denver, CO CBS Radio News worked hard and Aurora Theatre Shooting fast to get the facts when shots were fired at a Newtown, CT, elementary This newscast was our school last December. They were best effort to update our among the first to report the community of the latest magnitude of the tragedy and did details in the Aurora theater shooting. Too many lives so with immediacy, accuracy, and were changed and lost on that morning. 9News provided solid reporting that brought out the information as it continued to develop, while survivors we emotion of that terrible day. spoke with provided the inspiration our area needed on this evening.

Television-Network ABC News, New York Television-Small Market World News with Diane Sawyer: Tragedy at the Elementary KSPR, Springfield, MO School Leap Day Tornadoes Diane Sawyer anchored a special one-hour edition On the morning of February 29, 2012, nine tornadoes struck of “World News” from the southwest . One twister hit the tourist town of Newtown United Methodist Branson, destroying Church. ABC’s first-rate businesses along team of producers and what is know as the correspondents reported on busy “Branson strip”. each aspect of this extremely emotional story. At the heart of This is the 6:00 p.m. the broadcast was Diane Sawyer’s inspiring interview with newscast from that Kaitlyn Roig – one of the dedicated, resilient schoolteachers day as the KSPR team at Sandy Hook Elementary. came together to cover the natural disaster.

22 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org websites

Radio-Large Market Television-Large Market , St. Paul, MN KLAS-TV, , NV MPRNews.org 8NewsNOW.com 8NewsNOW.com’s focus on , thorough reporting, and building upon KLAS-TV’s exceptional investigative journalism are core to its success. The entry included MPR News’ entry was comprised of nine pieces that extensive breaking news coverage of demonstrated the variety of its award-winning online news a major flash flooding event, database coverage. It included distinctive breaking news coverage journalism-enhanced stories on that displayed a heavy emphasis on multi-media and social pedestrian safety, Las Vegas’ push media, stunning visual reporting, deep non radio enterprise towards economic diversification, and and investigative reporting, explicit connections on the 2012 elections. community issues throughout Minnesota, interactive data reporting and collaboration with a . One wouldn’t have known the entry came from a radio station. Television-Small Market KGUN-TV, Tuscon, AZ Radio-Network NPR, Washington Best Website-KGUN9.com NPR’s Digital Experience Through aggressive coverage of breaking news, weather, exclusive We often hear from our listeners how the speed of digital investigations that got results and information is making their world spin faster and faster. At exclusive photo galleries, KGUN9. NPR, we are applying those same digital forces to make the com kept users on top of the ride a little easier information they needed to know -- and even a little and engaged viewers on the issues more fun. through our unique “Viewers’ Voice” service.

Radio- Small Market KBSX, Boise, ID Television-Network CBS News, New York “Boise State Public Radio’s news site focuses on news with an emphasis CBSNews.com on education, environment, arts and CBSNews.com has made quality and depth the focus of culture, and economic news.” everything it does, from reporting to design to new features and functionality, delivering extensive and compelling Online News Organization-National coverage of historic news MediaStorm, Brooklyn, NY events over the past year while modernizing and improving MediaStorm.com the user experience through a MediaStorm’s online publication is an eclectic showcase site redesign. for multimedia storytelling. The goal is to tell the story of today’s world in a truly in-depth manner.

24 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org sports reporting

Radio-Large Market Television-Large Market WKSU, Kent, OH WTSP-TV, St. Petersburg, FL Playing Through the Pain Soccer Safety Ignored

The story is an in-depth look at the largely unregulated world Our story exposed of painkillers and college sports and what some colleges how soccer goal safety have done to curb the problem. The idea followed the 2011 regulations were overdose deaths of two former University of Akron football regularly ignored across players. Their parents Tampa Bay, and within a claimed they became few days, nearly a dozen hooked on painkillers cities and counties took when they got injured action. We credit tens of and feared losing their thousands of kids’ safety to three $4 watermelons — the best scholarships. They also money the station has ever spent. claimed the school did little to help. Television-Small Market WEHT, Evansville, IN The Ben Weber Story Radio-Network ESPN, Bristol, CT Ben Weber is no ordinary high school football player. He’s Outside the Lines and The Sporting Life: “Donnovan Hill” had more than his share of setbacks. First, his father died suddenly. Then a few years later, An estimated 3 million his mother got sick and Ben lost children played in her too. Despite being orphaned Pop warner and other at 15 years old, Ben has excelled youth leagues last at football and life. year, but this season, more than ever, there Television-Network is a new awareness CBS News, New York about the health risks. An ESPN survey found On The Road: Football Dynasty that 58 percent of parents of boys under age 15 are “very Steve Hartman profiles concerned” about youth football injuries and that more than Karen and Tom Aho, who half believe that tackle football should begin no earlier than have sent the last quarter age 13. We look at the story of Pop Warner star Donnovan century attending the high Hill, the tackling technique taught by his coaches, and the school football games of their questions raised from a catastrophic injury that changed 12 sons. lives forever.

Radio-Small Market Online News Organization-National KLIN, Lincoln, NE Yahoo! Studios, Santa Monica, CA Team Jack: Prayer, Teamwork & T-shirts Katie Taylor’s Gold Medal Jack Hoffman was five years old he “Katie Taylor Captures the was diagnosed with brain cancer. Gold”: Small town hero Katie This story details the bond Jack has Taylor carried the hopes of her created with the Nebraska football community Brie, Ireland and team and their work together as an entire nation becoming the “Team Jack” to raise more than first Irish woman to capture $200,000 (and counting) to fund a gold medal in boxing during the 2012 Olympic games in pediatric brain cancer research. London. This piece captured one day in her journey to the top.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 25

news series

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market KPLU, Seattle, WA KRNV, Reno, NV If It’s Legal: Five Ways Legal Pot Could Affect Your Life Silver State Secrets The notion of providing a public service, heading into the Our weeklong, five-part series elections of fall 2012, drove the news staff at KPLU Public exposed transparency troubles Radio to concentrate its energies on producing a five-part in ’s government. series called, “If it’s legal: Five ways legal pot could affect your The “Silver State Secrets” life.” investigations shed light on The voters of Washington state (along with Colorado) faced problems ranging from loopholes in lobbyist reporting a choice in the fall of 2012: Whether to legalize the sale of requirements and state workers hiding their own reprimand marijuana for recreational use. documents to issues impacting the safety of every viewer. Each report includes just a few voices, to keep the narrative focused, but the confident storytelling reflects dozens of Television-Network interviews, from legal experts to state officials to pot growers CNN, Atlanta, GA and users. Damascus Undercover After spending months establishing a safe route in, a CNN Radio-Network team was able to work undercover in the Syrian capital, free ABC News Radio, New York of government restrictions. They were the first news team Your Voice, Your Vote to operate in Damascus without government oversight, and one of the few teams to operate in Syria as a whole without a This series of reports spanned Free Syrian Army escort. They came away with some chilling the campaign leading up to the untold stories of civil war in the capital. Presidential election. Each day ABC News Radio highlighted the storylines of the race for the Online News Organization-Local White House, from the crowded The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA Republican primaries all the way through the re-election of Price of Protection President Obama. Nearly 300 of Washington state’s worst sex offenders are locked up indefinitely in the Radio-Small Market Special Commitment Center on WVTF/Radio IQ, Charlottesville, VA McNeil Island in the western Hazardous Hospitals Puget Sound as a way to protect society. However, the program People who go into the hospital for has been plagued by runaway treatment usually expect to come home feeling better, but legal costs, a lack of financial experts say hundreds of thousands are getting infected with oversight and layers of secrecy. potentially deadly bacteria. This problem is raising big questions about how hospitals do business, and who pays when things don’t go as planned. Online News Organization-National The Denver Post, Denver, CO Television-Large Market Heroin in Denver KUSA-TV, Denver, CO A life of panhandling on the streets From Hell And Back. The Lydia Tillman Story of Denver is brutal, boring and soul- Lydia Tillman survived a brutal rape, beating and being set crushing. Most who do it are substance on fire. As badly as this woman was hurt, her spirit was never abusers, caught in a vicious cycle. You broken. wouldn’t stand out there 12 hours a day unless you desperately needed heroin, Our series follows Lydia when she gets a surprise from the and then, only another dose would get people who saved her life and check in with her as she’s you through the next 12 hours. learning to speak again.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 27 Breaking News coverage

Radio-Large Market Television-Small Market KGO, San Francisco, CA WHEC-TV, Rochester, NY Oikos University Shooting Christmas Eve Tragedy

Multiple fatalities reported in a This very tragic day turned grave as we learned that a shooting at Oikos University, an disgruntled man had set a structure on fire to lure in first Oakland vocational/theological responders. As they arrived he ambushed them opening fire school. Police are searching for a with a rifle. Two firefighters were killed and four more first gunman; per OPD notification the responders were injured. suspect is Asian, heavy-set, wearing Despite much of our news khaki clothing and armed. KGO’s Scott Lettieri has this staff already on Christmas report from the scene. vacation, they came into work in full force to report Radio-Network this story to our community. ABC News Radio, New York Newtown School Shooting Television-Network Hours before the full horror of the ABC News, New York Newtown massacre was known, Tragedy at the Elementary School ABC News Radio was the first radio news network to report live From the start, despite so much mayhem and confusion, ABC from Sandy Hook Elementary News’ coverage was strong, serious, thoughtful and heartfelt. School. They began a day of The division produced many hours of indelible reporting, extended coverage which featured exclusive interviews with including more than five hours of live coverage on Friday young survivors, parents and the hero teachers — as well as a anchored by Diane Sawyer and David Muir, special editions team of legal and medical experts. of , World News, 20/20, , This Radio-Small Market Week, special reports WRVA-AM, Richmond, VA and extensive online Stormy Surprise work throughout the weekend. The sun was shining the afternoon of June 25, 2012. Thousands of people were attending a game at the Richmond Diamond, and while a chance of an isolated afternoon storm had been forecast, no one was prepared for the destructive Online News Organization-National The New York Times, New York weather that blew through the Richmond metro area that afternoon. Hurrican Sandy

On Monday afternoon, the wind started to pick up, the Television-Large Market water was rising in the rivers, subways, bridges and tunnels WNBC-TV, New York closed, and it was clear that Superstorm Sandy was going to News 4 New York Special Coverage: Hurricane Sandy cause a lot of pain to the New York area. Fast-moving New News 4 New York was on the air for 142 consecutive hours York Times video journalists began reporting stories from covering Hurricane Sandy. Our team of meteorologists took the Jersey Shore up to coastal Connecticut the unprecedented step of telling people not to listen to what in the hours and days following the storm. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was saying and The Times posted more than 40 videos in actually evacuate from parts of Lower Manhattan. They saw the week after the storm – from live updates the threat of the storm, as the mayor’s office appeared to with reporters in the newsroom, to field have downplayed it at first. We have included our first hour reports showing the emotional and physical of coverage from Sunday morning right before the storm hit. toll of the storm on people around the region. It is followed by excerpts of our 142 hours of coverage.

28 RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org Unity/gannett

Radio-Large Market Television-Network Radio, Ann Arbor, MI ESPN Films, Bristol, CT Infant Mortality in Michigan Ghosts of Ole Miss

African-American babies in Michigan “Ghosts of Ole Miss” examines the 1962 are twice as likely as white babies to die Rebel football team and their perspective before they turn one. If you compare on race, civil rights, football and a way of black infant mortality rates in Michigan life. It puts the team right in the middle of to other countries, Michigan would one of the most significant moments of the land between Malaysia and Syria. This civil rights struggle. documentary reports on this situation, the potential causes, and efforts to reduce it. Online News Organization The Boston Globe, Boston, MA Television-Large Market WJW-TV, , OH 68 Blocks: Life, Death, Hope Race: Our Stories In the small Boston The shooting of Trayvon Martin provoked a national, intense abcde neighborhood called Bowdoin- debate about race relations. Our hope was that, if we opened Geneva, violence has continued up about race others may open up – to us and to each other. for nearly half a century, despite significant drops in poverty Dr. King said, “we must and drugs, and despite decades of efforts to stop it. In the all learn to live together fall of 2011, after a 16-year-old boy and his 14-year-old friend as brothers… or perish were gunned down while walking to the drug store, the Globe together as fools.” launched a major undertaking to try to understand why. Five reporters, including two who lived in an apartment rented by the Globe, and a team of more than a dozen videographers, photographers, graphic artists and data analysts, immersed themselves in the neighborhood for a year. “68 Blocks: Life, Death, Hope” chronicles a summer in Bowdoin-Geneva through a series of narratives constructed of words, animated Radio- Network graphics, and social media. Through the lives of residents – State of the Re:Union/NPR/PRX, Jacksonville, FL including a gang member, a priest, a father who lost his son As Black as We Wish to Be and a mother who feared she would lose hers – it captures a legacy of violence and also the joy, hope and struggles of There’s a tiny town in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio people who live and work in a community where the threat where, for a century, residents have shared the common of gunfire frames everything. bond of identifying as African- American despite the fact that most look white. The traditional GannetT Foundation Award notion of “race” has been tossed on Innovation in Watchdog Journalism its head leading to discrimination from the town next door, internal family struggles, and searches for Lee Zurik Anchor/Chief Investigative Reporter, WVUE-TV new identities. In the series, “Playing with Fire,” Lee Zurik and his Radio-Small Market colleagues investigated the handling of financial affairs WFPL, Louisville, KY by a board which oversees pensions for retired New WFPL’s Defining Fairness Series Orleans firefighters. With television stories and online Defining Fairness, WFPL looks at the issues elements including an interactive component that facing diverse LGBTQ Louisvillians—race, allowed viewers to see key source documents, WVUE’s religion, family, income, disability, and reporting resulted in ethics charges, changes in state the struggles that fall outside the mainstream narrative of law and a complete overhaul of the retirement board. gay rights.

RTDNA Awards Dinner | RTDNA.org 29 Congratulations to Global News on its Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence

You’re the first Canadian network to receive this prestigious honour and you’ve done us proud!

RTDNA Canada congratulates all the winners!

Radio Television Digital News Association The National Press Building 529 14th Street, NW | Suite 425 Washington, DC 20045 www.rtdna.org | @rtdna