Written by Eric Holder, University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Public Relations department head, the Peabody Awards
Morley Safer to Host Awards Ceremony on May 16 at New York City`s Waldorf=Astoria
New York – The winners of the 64th Annual Peabody Awards were announced today by the University of Georgia`s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. This year`s 32 winners, chosen as the best in electronic media for 2004, were named in a ceremony that took place at New York`s Museum of Television & Radio.
Winners include Grant Tinker, who received an Individual Peabody, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart `Indecision 2004,`” as well as first-ever awards to CNBC, TRIO, Link TV and Univision. Multiple citations were awarded to HBO, Cinemax, BBC America and New York`s WNYC Radio.
The awards will be presented May 16 at a luncheon at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York. Veteran CBS News correspondent and “60 Minutes” co-editor Morley Safer will host the ceremony.
“The winners announced today suggest further developments in a new era for electronic media,” said Horace Newcomb, Peabody Awards director. “What was once a shared broadcast experience now more and more reflects individual use of carefully targeted systems. The work of the Peabody Awards Board certainly becomes more difficult in this context – but it also becomes even more significant.”
Grant Tinker was presented with an Individual Peabody for a career in the entertainment industry that the Peabody board cited for fostering “creative opportunities that led to some of television`s most exciting work – and workers.”
CNBC, the business cable network, received its first Peabody for ” The Age of Wal-Mart: Inside America`s Most Powerful Company.” Also receiving its first award was TRIO, the digital cable network, for “The N-Word“; satellite programmer Link TV`s “MOSAIC: World News from The Middle East“; and Spanish-language media company Univision for its public service campaign ” Saluid es Vida…Enterate! (Lead a Healthy Life… Get the Facts!).”
International winners included the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for “Human Cargo,” recognized as an “outstanding miniseries that led to public discussion . . . in Canadian newspapers, universities and community forums.” National Public Radio`s team of foreign correspondents, editors and producers won for its coverage of ” The War in Iraq“; and South Africa`s ” `Takalani Sesame Presents` talk to me . . . ,” a one-hour South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC2) documentary created by Sesame Workshop and Kwasukasukela (the production company) to promote communication between adults and children on the subject of HIV-AIDS.
BBC America won two awards for “State of Play,” a gripping political thriller, and “The Kumars at No. 4,” cited by the Peabody Board for its “fusion of genres that never fails to delight as it illustrates the quirks that unite families, regardless of culture or background.”
BBC Television News won for “The Darfur Crisis,” recognized for “searing reports from a team of BBC journalists who present and analyze the crisis situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.”
Also honored for documenting world humanitarian issues was The History Channel`s “Rwanda – Do the Scars Ever Fade?” an episode of the “Time Machine” series (produced by Bill Brummel Productions), which through first-person accounts asks the question of how an entire nation and culture can recover from the terrors of its past. Also awarded was “The Suffering of Sudan,” from Channel One News, which outlines the complexities of Sudan`s civil war and genocide for school-aged children.
CBS News won a Peabody for “60 Minutes II: Abuse at Abu Ghraib,” the Dan Rather report that broke the story of the abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad.
WNYC Radio was recognized twice by the Peabody Board for their program “On the Media” and for the Kurt Anderson-hosted program, “Studio 360 American Icons: Herman Melville`s `Moby Dick,`” co-produced by Public Radio International (PRI). CultureWorks won for their brilliantly produced 11-part radio series “Leonard Bernstein: An American Life,” hosted by Susan Sarandon.
Two more radio programs won the prestigious Peabody: PRI`s “Let the Good Times Roll,” a 13-part radio series on rhythm and blues, and “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and PRI.
Local television new reports honored were “Friends in High Places,” a three-year investigation of state contacts from Nashville`s WTVF-TV; “State of Denial,” a 19-part series on workers compensation abuses from Dallas` WFAA-TV; “Chesapeake Bay Pollution Investigation,” by Baltimore`s WBAL-TV, an ongoing investigation that overhauled state environmental policies; and “The Bully Project,” from Milwaukee`s WITI-TV, a powerful investigative piece that developed into a state-wide public service campaign.
WGBH in Boston was honored for “American Experience: Tupperware!,” a documentary about why a plastic food container has become not only a ubiquitous product but a cultural icon.
Comedy Central`s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart `Indecision 2004`” won a Peabody for its presidential campaign coverage; the Peabody Board citied the show`s appeal as “satire that deflates pomposity on an equal opportunity basis.” This is the program`s second Peabody; it also won for its 2000 election coverage.
Cinemax received honors for “Bus 174,” an examination of the disintegration of a violent hostage situation in Brazil – covered live on television, and “Balseros,” an engaging account of the lives of seven Cuban refugee rafters.
HBO, a multiple award winner, was cited for “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks,” a loving biographical tribute to Beah Richards, cited by the Peabody Board as a giving “remarkable insight into her life as an actress, poet and teacher”; “Something the Lord Made,” the true story of two men who defied racial strictures in the Jim Crow South and pioneered the field of heart surgery in 1944; and “Deadwood,” which the Peabody Board said, “twists the conventions of the Western into an excruciating knot of history and imagined events.”
Discovery Channel won for “Black Sky: The Race for Space,” a documentary that chronicles the first great aeronautical feat of the 21st Century and its reinvention of space travel.
The children`s video collection, “Nursery Tap, Hip to Toe,” won for combining “the spoken word and the physicality of dance to offer an enchanting learning experience for the young – and not so young.”
The Peabody Board is a 15-member group, comprised of television critics, broadcast and cable industry executives and experts in culture and the arts, that judges the entries. Selection is made by the board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students and staff.
The Peabody Awards, the oldest honor in electronic media, do not recognize categories nor is there a set number of awards given each year. Today the Peabody recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals.
All entries become a permanent part of the Peabody Archive in the University of Georgia Libraries. The collection is one of the nation`s oldest, largest and most respected moving-image archives. For more information about the Peabody Archive or the Peabody Awards, visit www.peabody.uga.edu.
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Peabody Images: www.peabody.uga.edu/news/PressImages.html
Horace Newcomb: www.peabody.uga.edu/news/PressImages.html