1987 duPont-Columbia Award Winners
In a special program, the duPont-Columbia University Awards announced 1 Gold Baton recipient and 11 additional winners.
GOLD BATON - The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America - CBS News
The statistics about what happened over the past two decades to the once stalwart and steadfast American black family, the backbone of the black community, are shocking and distressing. In an unflinching account that tries to understand why this disintegration started and why it continues, CBS News gives life to the statistics through intimate portraits of young black adults facing the emotional and financial difficulties of single parenthood. With its candor and openness, "The Vanishing Family" may very well be the most important documentary in recent memory.
45/85 - ABC News
These three hours of prime time television document the benchmark events between the years 1945 and 1985, giving viewers a sense of relevance to events that have shaped today’s world.
Frontline: Sue the Doctor? - PBS & Chedd Angier Production Company
This documentary hour dramatically records a patient’s agonizing decision over whether or not to sue the doctor for malpractice.
For Auction: An American Hero - PBS & Drew Associates
Drew Associates has given us the human side of the dismal facts of the farm crisis with this beautifully shot, exquisitely edited, warm and thoughtful documentary.
Washington 2000 - KING-TV
This three-hour prime-time special, which involved the entire KING news staff, focuses on the anticipated economic changes and future employment prospects facing Washingtonians.
Tulsa's Golden Missionary - KTUL-TV
This seven-month investigation of a Tulsa-based international charity uncovers misdirected funds, exaggerated claims of good works, deceptive fund-raising techniques and favoritism for family and friends.
Outstanding Reporting by Erin Hayes KYTV
Covering subjects from a controversial alcohol treatment program to an informative piece on dyslexia, Erin Haynes’s stories represent the kind of thoroughly researched, balanced reporting that the Awards were created to honor.
Investigative Reporting on Nightly News NBC News
NBC Nightly News meets the challenges and takes the risks involved in assigning reporters to take a closer look at what lies behind and beyond the otherwise everyday story.
Coverage of the American Raid on Tripoli - NBC Radio News
NBC Radio News gives us spine-chilling, on-the-scene coverage of the American air strike on Libya and the Libyans' reaction. This live, war-zone reportage is courageous, vivid, articulate radio journalism in the best tradition
If you have recordings of this reporting, please contact the duPont-Columbia Awards.
Afghanistan: The Untold Story - WBZ-TV
This piece focuses attention on the tragedies of the Soviet-Afghanistan war, especially the war-wounded Afghani children the innocent victims.
No Place to Call Home - WCBS-TV
The tragedy of the homeless children growing up in New York City's shabby welfare hotels, where violence and crime are faced daily, is vividly documented in this commendable program. Judiciously yet empathetically, "No Place to Call Home" brings the pain and suffering of the children, victims of parental unemployment, New York's housing shortage, and the crisis of poverty, to bear in this effective and disturbing hour of television.
If you have footage of this reporting, please contact the DuPont-Columbia Awards.
State of Texas vs. Steven Lynn Fossum WCCO-TV
This eight month investigation into discrepancies in the testimony of a rape victim led to the governor of Texas granting an executive pardon.
Cicero: Community of Controversy WMAQ-TV
This half-hour documentary picks up the saga of a small midwestern working-class town that has historically had problems with race relations and, since the days of Al Capone, with organized crime.