1976 duPont-Columbia Award Winners
In a special program, the duPont-Columbia University Awards announced 10 winners.
Prison Gangs - KNBC, Burbank
A fascinating and frightening exploration of a subculture which demonstrates to what extremes the desperate ones in our society may go and how far a persistent and sensitive TV investigator can follow them, even when weighted down with pounds of video gear.
A Series on Feeding the Poor NBC Nightly News
In a half dozen vignettes scattered through two months of newscasts, Mr. Pettit managed to flesh out the grim statistics of hunger in America and make the human facts unforgettable and unforgivable to the most casual dinner-time viewer.
All Things Considered - NPR
An impressive effort to give proportion and depth to the news. In this program, on the air for 90 minutes five days a week, with half-hour segments on Saturday and Sunday, National Public Radio fulfills the need for putting the day’s events into perspective, perhaps more successfully than any broadcaster past or present.
News and documentary programming WBTV, Charlotte
Two accomplishments, difficult and equally rare of attainment, were achieved by WBTV’s news staff this year. First in its complete and sensitive covering of the greatest tragedy in Charlotte’s history, the Eastern Airlines crash of September 11, 1974, the sort of disaster which frequently renders electronic journalists inadequate and inept; second, in the patient, thoughtful documentation of a local story with national significance contained in the 60-minute study of continuing problems in racial adjustment, ‘Swann Versus the Board of Education: Ten Years After.
Moore on Sunday - WCCO, Minneapolis
This series has over the years displayed admirable persistence and expertise in bringing issues of importance to viewers in the Twin Cities area. This season many stories had high value in human and community terms. Particularly notable were the two segments dealing with Minneapolis’ controversial new $70 million Government Center.
News and Documentary Programming WCCO Radio, Minneapolis
A consistent excellence in news judgment, organization, writing and overall content was displayed in both the daily operation and in WCCO’s radio documentaries, among the most extensive commitment to in-depth radio reporting by any local station in the country.
Arabs and Israelis - WGBH, Boston
A human document of major importance. In a year characterized by much coverage of the Middle East, no approach was more moving or original than this sensitive juxtaposition of two warring peoples, showing that in both their virtues and foibles they were surprisingly close.
The Riots Plus Ten Years - WHEC, Rochester
In three prime-time half-hours this local station took a subject central to its own community’s as well as the nation’s recent history and future well-being and gave it a new reality and urgency through the personal statements and stories of those who had been significant participants.
Teamster Power - WKYC, Cleveland
All too often the new vogue for mini-documentaries results in superficial coverage of sensational subjects. ‘Teamster Power’ presented its grim story in an orderly and thoroughly researched fashion which made it all the more shocking and effective.
Crime Reporting - WPLG, Miami
Clarence Jones’ and WPLC-TV’s crime reporting, according to jurors, “presented day-to-day crime coverage in a manner which served the community without feeding panic or catering to the desire for sensation. His series on waterfront crime dug deep and ranged wide, giving the necessary cues to a phlegmatic bureaucracy.