1969 Award Winners

Dr. Everett C. Parker

Dr. Everett C. Parker, director of the Office of Communications of the United Church of Christ and advocate of the public interest in broadcasting for many decades, was deeply involved in two major court decisions in 1969. The first was the 1969 Supreme Court ruling upholding "The Fairness Doctrine", which required a broadcaster to make time available for reply to personal attacks on the air and for presentation of both sides of controversial issues. The Solicitor General commended to the Court a brief filed by Dr. Parker's office, describing it as an outstanding presentation of the case in favor of the Fairness Doctrine. The second decision established the public's right to challenge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses formally in an effort to encourage citizen efforts to evaluate a licensee's performance of their duty to serve the public interest. Dr. Parker was also involved in other broadcaster-community conflicts that were resolved without court or FCC action, many of which involved fair coverage of communities of color and fair employment practices.

The Slow Guillotine - KNBC-TV, Los Angeles

Station KNBC-TV in Los Angeles was singled out for its hour-long documentary on air pollution, "The Slow Guillotine," which attracted greater public reaction than any broadcast in the station's 20-year history. Written and produced by the station's press relations director, Don Widener, who spent two years researching the subject on his own time, the program focused on the smog problem in the general Los Angeles area. It showed, for example, the fatal effect of smog on pine trees in the Lake Arrowhead resort area, 85 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The station also sent crews to four other states and to Washington, D.C.. Under pressure to eliminate some of the program's footage and even cancel the entire program, the station proceeded without making changes. Arrangements were made to rebroadcast the program on four other NBC-owned stations.

Credits: Don Widener- KNBC-TV Press Relations Director

Local coverage of the 1968 political campaigns - KQED, San Francisco

JStation KQED in San Francisco, a public television station, won for its outstanding local coverage of the 1968 political campaigns. Coverage was divided into a spring primary and a fall general election series. Extensive, prime-time programs brought together competing candidates. They were questioned by informed newsmen familiar with each candidate's constituency and local political problems. Sixty-two candidates for local office appeared on these spring programs. In October, a total of 87 candidates for Congress, State Senate and Assembly and County Supervisorship appeared on the station. In addition, KQED prepared special reports on California's extensive ballot proposals. On election night, the station reported on all local contests and on referenda in nine Bay Area counties, in addition to the contests for the highest office.

Defense and Domestic Needs: The Contest for Tomorrow - National Educational Television and Public Broadcast Laboratory

Focusing on pressure groups that help influence defense appropriations, PBL undertook to explain how defense contracts are awarded, how the Defense Department attempts to obtain military appropriations from Congress, and how influential politicians use their relations with the military for their own ends. The program was presented in January 1969 before arguments over the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty reached their heights. The report reviewed the history and the prospects of the ABM and other major military projects for which funds were being sought, and questioned the value of some costly weapons systems in relation to other national needs.

First Tuesday: Chemical-Biological Warfare, The Secrets of Secrecy - NBC News

"CBW -- The Secrets of Secrecy" was selected by the jurors for a report on the developing and testing of weapons on chemical and biological warfare. In the course of its probing, the NBC team unearthed facts about the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and secret Defense Department-sponsored experiments in the Pacific which had not been aired before. The report's inquiry into the mysterious death of thousands of sheep in Utah in March 1968, resulting from a mishap at Dugway, stimulated a chain of events which led to a full disclosure of the incident by the Defense Department. As a result of the interest aroused by the program, Congress began a series of inquiries into CBW policies. the Defense Department subsequently made some significant changed in the policies.

Outstanding Coverage of the 1968 Political Campaigns - WRKL Radio, Mount Ivy-New City, NY

Radio Station WRKL in Mount Ivy, Rockland County, N.Y., also won for its unusually thorough coverage of local political campaigns. A daytime station in a town of less than 1,000 populationWRKL deployed five full-time newsmen and seven stringers to cover Rockland County politics, from congressional to school board contests. In addition to its three daily half-hour newscasts devoted entirely to local news, the station's phone-in program, numerous news specials, debates and informative and thought-provoking editorials gave the local campaign the attention it deserved. Candidates were heard individually and in animated debate. Such local coverage was often scheduled on the station's "Hot Line," on which listeners could call to ask their own questions. Local, state, and congressional candidates participated enthusiastically in these forums. The station's objective coverage of the political scene won commendation from all four political parties (Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, and Republican), and from concerned community groups such as the League of Women Voters.

Investigation of Organized Crime - WSB-TV Atlanta

Station WSB-TV in Atlanta won for its thorough investigation of organized crime. The station provided law-enforcement officials with the information leading to the largest lottery raids in Georgia's history. The effort was costly to the station and often frustrating. WSB's full-time investigative reporter, Ken Goodnight, worked continuously on the story for seven months, assisted by other WSB newspeople and by a special state investigator assigned at the station's request. Imaginative techniques were used to gather evidence of suspected lottery operations. Filming was done from a telephone repairman's tent, a converted truck van, and an airplane. The resulting raids led to the arrest of 25 alleged gamblers, including some said to be linked to an international gambling ring, and to charges against several police officers. As a further outgrowth of the expose, the mayor initiated an investigation of the police department. State and federal law-enforcement officials and the Atlanta Crime Commission intensified the attack on organized crime in the Atlanta area.

White Paper: Pollution is a Matter of Choice - NBC News and Fred Freed

Grunt's Little War - WCCO-TV Minneapolis

Our Poisoned World - WOOD-TV Grand Rapids, Dick Cheverton and Herb Thurman