Scripps executives, including Rich Boehne, Brian Lawlor and Bob Sullivan, were in New York yesterday as two of the group’s stations picked up prestigious Peabody awards from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism.
The emcee, Dr. Horace Newcomb, credited the winners, which ranged from Lorne Michaels to KNXV Phoenix to HBO’s Girls, for producing work that “rises like islands in a sea of mediocrity.”
Scott Pelley hosted. Michaels and Louis C.K. noted the irony of being a funnyman in a room full of hard-nosed journos. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be among serious people,” said Michaels.
Robin Roberts, eight months after her bone marrow transplant, got a standing ovation as she took the stage. She credited parent Disney-ABC for “showing the world how you can, and should, treat an employee with a life threatening disease.”
Joining Roberts onstage were Josh Elliott, George Stephanopolous and Robin’s sister Sally-Ann, who anchors at WWL New Orleans.
Scripps’ KNXV was one of four TV stations getting a Peabody. “I’m glad to work for a company that still believes in in-depth investigative reporting and provides us with the resources to do it,” said Joe Ducey, the reporter on “Ford Escape: Exposing a Deadly Defect.”
Other notables in the room included David Barrett of Hearst TV, Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen.
Other TV stations getting awards were NBC’s WVIT Hartford, Dispatch’s WTHR Indianapolis and Scripps’ KMGH Denver.
