Columbia University will award 14 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia awards January 19, to media outlets as varied as Al Jazeera English, HBO and WSB Atlanta. CBS News anchor Scott Pelley and NPR's Michele Norris will hand out the awards at Columbia's Low Memorial Library in Manhattan.
The 2012 winners are Al Jazeera English for Fault Lines, Haiti -- Six Months On; CBS News for 60 MinutesReport: A Relentless Enemy; Danfung Dennis, Impact Partners, Roast Beef Productions, Sabotage Films, Thought Engine, and Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation for Hell and Back Again; Detroit Public TV for Beyond the Light Switch; HBO and Blowback Productions for Triangle: Remembering the Fire; HBO and its Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel program for its look at concussions in Head Games; MediaStorm and Walter Astrada for Undesired for the Alexia Foundation; NBC News and Richard Engel for Coverage of the Arab Spring; The New York Times for online stories "A Year at War" and "Surviving the Earthquake: Children"; WFAA Dallas and Byron Harris for the report on for-profit trade schools Bitter Lessons; WGBH for its NOVA program Japan's Killer Quake; WNYC and Ailsa Chang for Alleged Illegal Searches by the NYPD; WSB Atlanta and Jodie Fleischer for the eight part foreclosure series Stealing Houses; and WTVF Nashville and Phil Williams for Policing for Profit.
WNYC was also given a finalist award for Radio Rookies: Coming Up in 2011.
DuPonts are awarded for "accurate and fair reporting about important issues that are powerfully told," said the organizers. "Breaking news coverage, reporting with innovative storytelling and content, and stories that have made an impact in the public interest are also paramount."
For the first time, two awards will be given for digital reporting: One to The New York Times and one to MediaStorm.
"This truly dynamic group of news organizations and journalists represent the best in broadcast and digital news reporting," said Bill Wheatley, duPont Jury chair, former executive VP of NBC News and adjunct faculty member at Columbia. "Journalists are using technology in new ways to effectively tell these important stories covering the news, issues and events that are critical to our society."
