Vol.25, No. 12	Jan. 28, 2000

Best of Broadcast Journalism Honored With duPont Awards

By Abigail Beshkin

Facing the Truth with Bill Moyers, a two-hour Public Affairs Television documentary about the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa, won the Gold Baton, the highest honor of the annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in television and radio.

"Much of the violence on television is gratuitous. But sometimes it is a key to the story, conveying a truth about years gone by, so that we can prepare ourselves for the years ahead," President George Rupp said in presenting the prize to executive producer and correspondent Bill Moyers on Jan. 19. "This year's Gold Baton goes to a two-hour program about South Africa, a country where the passion to understand history has demanded an exploration of its violence."

In addition, 12 silver batons for overall excellence were awarded to local stations, network, radio and cable programs aired between July 1, 1998 and June 30, 1999. Award winners were selected from 650 submissions.

Jeff Greenfield, co-anchor and senior analyst for CNN's The World Today, hosted theAlfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in the Rotunda in a ceremony that marked the 58th year of the awards. The program was televised nationwide on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York.

Tom Goldstein, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism and chairman of the awards jury, noted that "dogged research, old-fashioned enterprise and gutsy reporting—and not just glitzy pictures—are alive and well on American television in unexpected places."

In particular, he praised the local commercial stations whose submissions indicate that "the kind of investigative work that takes imagination, time and commitment" is not only the domain of the major networks.

Presenting the batons were Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and moderator of Washington Week in Review on PBS; Jack Ford, anchor and correspondent for the ABC News program 20/20; Susan Spencer, CBS News correspondent for 48 Hours; Columbia President George Rupp and Dean Goldstein. The silver baton winners were:

•ABC News and Diane Sawyer for 20/20: The Unwanted Children of Russia;

•CBS News and Bob Simon for 60 Minutes II: The Shame of Srebrenica;

•FRONTLINE and WGBH-TV, Boston, for The Triumph of Evil, on PBS;

•CNN and Candy Crowley for coverage of the impeachment and trial of President Clinton;

•New England Cable News, Newton, Mass., for in-depth reporting;

•KTVX-TV, Salt Lake City, and Chris Vanocur for investigative reporting on the Olympics bribery scandal;

•WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, for Guarding the Guardians;

•WMTW-TV, Auburn, Maine, and Christine Young for investigative reports on the Christian Civic League;

•Youth Radio, Berkeley, for E-Mails from Kosovo on National Public Radio;

•SoundVision Productions for The DNA Files, on National Public Radio;

•Walter Brock and P.O.V. for If I Can't Do It, on PBS;

• Stanley Nelson for The Black Press: Soldier Without Swords, on PBS.