Contact: Fred Knubel Director of Public Information 212-854-5573, fhk1@columbia.edu EMBARGOED FOR USE AFTER 9.P.M., E.T. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14, 1988NEW YORK, N.Y. -- FRONTLINE, the public television news documentary series, tonight won the Gold Baton, the highest honor of the annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. "Without cynicism or sensation, FRONTLINE covers many of the issues that try our patience and test our way of life," Columbia University President George Rupp said in presenting the prize to David Fanning, senior executive producer. "The series demonstrates remarkable quality and sustained commitment to controversial and sensitive stories, investigative reporting and political coverage on the Public Broadcasting Service." In addition to the Gold Baton, eleven silver batons were awarded for overall excellence to local, network, radio and cable programs aired in 1996-1997. Tom Goldstein, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and chairman of the awards jury, called journalism an "idealist's profession," as did the first duPont-Columbia report decades ago. "Any consumer of broadcast news today," he said, "knows there is a large and regrettable quality gap between the best and the work-a-day. This is all the more frustrating because we know how awfully good broadcasting can be. The duPont-Columbia Awards are meant to stimulate the best in broadcasting. These extraordinary accomplishments of the past year give us much hope for the future." Christiane Amanpour, senior international correspondent for CNN, hosted the awards ceremony in the Rotunda of Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in New York City, marking the awards' 56th year. The program will be televised Thursday, Jan. 15, on PBS stations nationwide by Thirteen/WNET, New York. The Silver Batons were presented by John Hockenberry, correspondent for Dateline NBC; Cynthia McFadden, ABC News correspondent for PrimeTime Live; and Hedrick Smith, executive producer and correspondent on Surviving the Bottom Line on PBS stations this month. Award winners were selected from 626 submissions that first aired between July 1, 1996 and June 30, 1997. The 11 winners, in addition to the GOLD BATON, with jurors' comments, follow: GOLD BATON To FRONTLINE, produced at WGBH-TV, Boston, for remarkable quality and sustained commitment to controversial and sensitive stories, investigative reporting and political coverage on PBS, as exemplified this year by four programs: Murder, Money and Mexico This one-hour investigative report meticulously recounted the complex and sinister story of the rise and fall of Mexican President Carlos Salinas and his brother, Raul. Correspondent Lowell Bergman untangled the web of politicians, billionaires, their families and finances, with cool detachment and without sensationalism. The interviews were stunningly simple and revealing in this major international story. The Choice '96 This two-hour film portrait of Presidential candidates Dole and Clinton used broad themes of landscape, war, teachers, and religion to understand the character and vision of both leaders. Producer Helen Whitney continued FRONTLINE's ambitious tradition of profiling the major candidates just before each of the last three Presidential elections. The Choice '96 analyzed the candidates to give voters a clear contrast and choice. Secret Daughter This two-hour autobiographical film by documentary producer June Cross revealed layer after layer of complex social relationships revolving around the theme of racism. Born of a white mother and a black father, Cross confronted her mother's hypocrisy in dealing with her black daughter. Fresh, well-crafted, and chillingly intimate, this program explored the contradictions of real life. Innocence Lost: The Plea This two-hour installment was the third part of a seven-year epic by Producer Ofra Bikel about charges of sexual abuse in a day-care center in Edenton, North Carolina. This time the spotlight was on the failings of the justice system. The documentary focused unflinchingly on the lengthy imprisonment without trial of a young woman; the overturning of the main charges against the daycare center's owner, Bob Kelly; and the dilemma of plea-bargaining for his co-owner and wife, Betsy Kelly. Although the ultimate truth of the case remains unknown, the power of FRONTLINE's examination of the impact of the case on the lives of those charged with sexual abuse stands as a monumental effort. As unrelenting coverage of a single case over seven years Innocence Lost is a terrifying example of the use of state power against individuals. It is a courageous and committed journalistic enterprise. The Gold Baton was accepted by the senior executive producer and creator of FRONTLINE, David Fanning. SILVER BATONS To Wisconsin Public Television for Welcome to Poverty Hollow. This insightful one-hour program followed three families in an innovative anti- poverty effort in northern Wisconsin, a response to the state's new welfare reform system. National policy lies behind these stories that were videotaped over a year and a half. The families were not stereotypical, although they cope with classic problems of alcoholism, depression, and divorce. Poverty Hollow is an excellent treatment of contemporary poverty that goes beyond current rhetoric. The Silver Baton was accepted by producer Linda Friend. To the Center for New American Media for Vote for Me: Politics in America on PBS. An important antidote to much of national political coverage, this raucous four- hour miniseries was independently produced by Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker, and Paul Stekler for PBS as part of its Democracy Project. This was a celebration of American politics focused primarily on local campaigns and candidates heady with ambition to contribute to civic life. Culled from 300 hours of tape shot in 30 states, the pace is breathless and the outcomes, win or lose, are revealing, inspiring and often amusing. The Silver Baton was accepted by producer Andrew Kolker. To ABC News for PrimeTime Live: Debt Reckoning. This investigative report revealed that a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company called The Associates used manipulative practices to sell mortgage loans to unsophisticated borrowers, many of them poor homeowners. Excessive interest rates, high fees, and forgery - with devastating effects on the victims - were among the practices that made Ford's loan company at least as profitable as its cars. The Silver Baton was accepted by correspondent Chris Wallace. To KUSC Radio, Los Angeles, for Marketplace on Public Radio International. Marketplace, a half-hour program aired nightly on public radio stations, proves that reporting on economic issues can be approached with energy and flair. This eight-year-old magazine format program is consistently engaging, informative and witty. Host David Brancaccio and the Marketplace team have created a highly original business news magazine. The Silver Baton was accepted by the general manager and creator of Marketplace, James Russell. To NBC News and Scripps Howard News Productions for Why Can't We Live Together? This one-hour documentary examined the self-fulfilling prophecies of race relations through the attitudes of upper-income blacks and whites in the Chicago suburb of Matteson, Illinois. Correspondent Tom Brokaw explored the myths and negative stereotypes that create white flight from neighborhoods where blacks are moving in. He documented fear and prejudice in candid interviews with townspeople who were remarkably frank. The Silver Baton was accepted by NBC News correspondent Tom Brokaw. To KTCA, St. Paul, for NewsNight Minnesota: Unisys. This series of reports about the impact of downsizing on long-term employees of the Unisys Corporation was produced for the nightly, half-hour news magazine that airs on Minnesota's public television stations. In sensitive and penetrating profiles, the reports explored the devastating dimensions of unemployment on hard-working people. The Silver Baton was accepted by senior correspondent Ken Stone,. To CBS News for Enter the Jury Room. In this age when trials and jury decisions are major stories, CBS News sought and won the right to videotape the process of jury deliberation in several cases in Arizona. Working with the American Bar Association and Arizona's Chief Justice, and with the permission of prosecutors, defendants and all the jury members, CBS News illuminated the struggle of jurors in actual deliberations as they came to terms with their power to convict. One case ended in a hung jury, giving the cameras the opportunity to come back to watch a second jury reach a very different verdict. The Silver Baton was accepted by anchor Ed Bradley. To Blowback Productions for CIA: America's Secret Warriors on Discovery Channel. This three-hour series coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Central Intelligence Agency. Using archival footage and interviews about espionage efforts during World War II and later actions in Cuba, Iran and Central America, this biography of an institution chronicled the successes and excesses of this enormous agency. The programs raised the question of why these "warrior priests" are needed now that the Cold War has ended. The Silver Baton was accepted by producer Marc Levin. To WABC-TV, New York, for Room 104: The Overcrowding Crisis. This half-hour special program by a local station went behind the headlines of New York City's troubled public schools and examined one of the many issues - overcrowding. Reporter Celeste Ford secured unlimited access to a first grade classroom in Brooklyn. By observing the teacher's struggle to keep the children focused, the students' efforts to learn, and the parents aspiring to do the best they could, this program brought a current urban issue home to the public in stunning personal terms. The Silver Baton was accepted by news director Bart Feder. To Jon Else, Sandra Itkoff and Marc Reisner for An American Nile on PBS. Beautiful photography elevated this story about the Colorado River beyond the politics of development and the environment. Water is the hero against human encroachment in this ageless contest. Beautifully written and documented with archival footage, interviews and graphics, this one-hour program chronicled the course of a river that no longer reaches the sea. The Silver Baton was accepted by executive producer Sandra Itkoff. To KCET, Los Angeles and the BBC, for The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century on PBS. This series of eight one-hour programs used individual stories to drive home the chaotic origins and the devastating outcome of the first World War. Through archival footage, diaries, still photographs and scenes of the current landscapes, the producers created a tapestry of the social, economic and military forces that transformed Europe. The programs have a poetic quality that brilliantly preserves for the future the overwhelming tragedy of this war. The Silver Baton was accepted by executive producer Blaine Baggett. The awards honoring excellence in broadcast journalism were established in 1942 by the late Jessie Ball duPont in memory of her husband, Alfred I. duPont. The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism has administered them since 1968. Serving on the seven-member jury with Dean Goldstein are Philip S. Balboni, president of New England Cable News; Barbara S. Cochran, president of the Radio & Television News Directors Association and former CBS News Washington Bureau Chief; John Dinges, assistant professor at the Journalism School and former NPR editorial director; Henry Hampton, independent producer and president of Blackside, Inc.; Joan Konner, dean emerita and director of the awards, and Eric Mink, television columnist for the New York Daily News and earlier for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Christopher Lukas was producer and writer of the broadcast; Wayne Palmer was director. The broadcast is a co-production of Thirteen/WNET in New York and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Award winners receive batons designed by Louis I. Kahn, the late American architect, and executed by the silver workshop of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The batons are inscribed with the famous observation on television by the late Edward R. Murrow: "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." (Address to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Chicago, Oct. 15, 1958.) Satellite coordinates for the PBS feed are: GE3 Transponder 24 Channel 502 (PBS). Network feed 4:30 - 5:30pm E.T., Thursday, January 15, 1998. 1.14.98 19,255 Public Television Series FRONTLINE Wins Highest duPont-Columbia Journalism Award