1975 duPont-Columbia Award Winners
In a special program, the duPont-Columbia University Awards announced 11 winners.
Close-Up - ABC News
Av Westin and ABC News’ “Close-Up” was described by the jurors as “the most consistently gripping and outspoken series of TV reports since ‘See It Now.’ Put together by a stable of top TV talents, ‘Close-Up’ had a unique willingness to dig out evil, show it unvarnished on the screen and then give it a name and address.
60 Minutes - CBC News
Don Hewitt and CBS News’ “Sixty minutes,” the jurors said, was “the best weekly display of TV journalistic resourcefulness… In its sixth year it was still delivering both had news and stylish features with an expertise that no one else on the air managed or, indeed, any loner attempted.
SLA 54th Street Shootout - KFWB Radio, Los Angeles
Of the KFWB Radio, Low Angeles, coverage of the SLA 54th Street shootout, the jurors said: “The station’s four reporters got in the closest and stayed longest. Their coverage gave the sense of danger, violence and tragedy, detail by detail. Appropriate comment, rare under such pressure, made five consecutive hours on the air into a single chilling and coherent whole.”
Why Me? - KNXT, Los Angeles
Of KNXT Los Angeles’ “Why Me?” the jurors said: “Of many worthy programs on subjects of particular interest to women, the most remarkable unquestionably was this gripping hour on breast cancer… The program’s producer tread a narrow path between bathos and tragedy, which he survived with signal success, thanks to his own and the participants’ impeccable taste and sincerity.”
The Energy Crisis an NBC White Paper NBC News
Fred Freed and NBC News’ “The Energy Crisis,” the jurors found, “stood as a capstone to the career of one of America’s most talented TV journalists. For 180 minutes Freed ranged his vast subject, from strip mining in Montana to deep-water porting in Maine. The Freed rhythm and pace carried it off, sometimes leisurely, sometimes staccato, juxtaposing picture and words in unexpected and exactly appropriate ways. Nothing was simple, nothing was dull.”
Washington Week in Review - National Public Affairs Center for Television
NPACT’s “Washington Week in Review,” according to the jurors, was “one of the most articulate, intelligent presentations on are. In such programs public TV showed its independence, originality and intelligence in putting unfolding events into perspective.”
Watergate Coverage - National Public Affairs Center for Television
Of NPACT’s Watergate Coverage the jurors said: “Day by day, night after night, public TV broadcast the complete, unedited hearings, accompanying them with the most consistently literate and informed background sessions of any of the four national networks.”
Juvenile Court - WNET-TV, New York
Frederick Wiseman and WNET/13’s “Juvenile Court” was, the jurors found, “the season’s most masterful and painful documentary. Although Wiseman has dozens of imitators, he remains the virtuoso of the nerve-wracking, heartbreaking, naturalistic documentary where neither cameraman nor reporter cast a shadow.”
Lord of the Universe - TVTV and WNET, Net Work
TVTV and WNET/13’s “The Lord of the Universe,” a 60-minute report on Guru Maharaj Ji, was, according to the jurors, “hectic, hilarious and not a little disquieting. With a heavier and less sure hand, the subject would have been squashed beneath the reporters’ irony or contempt. As it was, cult religion was handed to us, live and quivering, to make of it what we would.”
Through the Looking Glass Darkly Parts I through III - WKY-TV, Oklahoma City
Of WKY-TV Oklahoma City’s “Through the Looking Glass Darkly,” the jurors noted: “Of the steadily increasing number of quality programs directed towards minorities, unquestionably one of the best in recent seasons… It simply and with great dignity evoked the past of a fascinating community, the blacks of the Great Plains. It also served as an example and bench mark for other stations that could tell equally moving stories of ethnic groups in their communities.”
Public Bridges and Private Riches - WPVI-TV, Philadelphia
WPVI Philadelphia’s “Public Bridges and Private Riches” Is “a distinguished piece of local investigative reporting. Taking a Delaware Valley scandal, WPVI’s reporters ranged wide and then, in a carefully built 30-minute program, circled in ever-tightening spirals and finally swooped down on the venal public servants who were benefiting themselves and their relatives at the public’s expense.”