1994 duPont-Columbia Award Winners
In a special program, the duPont-Columbia University Awards announced 1 Gold Baton recipient and 12 additional winners.
GOLD BATON - Fred Friendly, for his lifetime contribution to the ethics and practice of journalism
Fred Friendly is recognized for his impact on all journalism, but especially on broadcast journalism. he began his career on radio in Providence, R.I., in 1937 and completed his last Columbia University Media and Society Seminar in 1992.
Beginning in 1948, in a close professional 12-year partnership with Edward R. Murrow, he produced for CBS News the series “See It Now” and “CBS Reports.” Their broadcast challenging Senator Joseph McCarthy and their documentary “Harvest of Shame” on migrant workers are world-famous. Later, as adviser on communications at the Ford Foundation, Mr. Friendly became an early champion of a nationwide public television service that went on to become the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 1974, he began a series of private conferences fo major news organizations on ethical problems that flowered to become the Media and Society Seminars: 600 seminars were produced, more than 80 broadcast on PBS on such subjects as “The Constitution: That Delicate Balance,” “Managing Our Miracles: Health Care in America,” “The Presidency and the Constitution,” “Ethics in America,” “Hard Drugs, Hard Choices,” “The Other Side of the News,” “The Military and the News Media,” “In the Face of Terrorism,” and the final series in 1992, “That Delicate Balance: Our Bill of Rights.,” marking the 200th anniversary of its ratification.
Named Edward R. Murrow Professor of Journalism at Columbia in 1968 (emeritus since 1980), he became a mentor and inspiration to hundreds of students. To news professionals and news consumers alike, throughout the last five decades Fred Friendly has been catalyst and conscience for the highest standards of excellence and public service in all media.
20/20: The Gift of Life - ABC News
This simple reconstruction of the brief encounter between an Army surgeon and a wounded soldier in Vietnam transcends the specific incident to illuminate what it means to be human.
Coverage of Bosnia - CNN
CNN's team of correspondents has courageously and continuously covered the civil war in Bosnia with outstanding professionalism.
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson - NBC | ETC Films | Barbara Kopple
In a unusual alliance between an independent documentary filmmaker and NBC television, Barbara Kopple has crafted a mosaic about Mike Tyson as a deeply flawed human being with all the mythic qualities Americans attribute to sports heroes.
In the Shadow of the Wall - KRON-TV
On the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, KRON produced an eloquent and elegant documentary revisiting several Bay Area veterans who had made an earlier pilgrimage to the Wall.
Harry Bridges: a Man and his Union - M.W. Productions | KQED
This hour-long documentary chronicles the life of the late Harry Bridges and his controversial rise to power as a founder of the International Longshoremen’s Union and one of the American labor movement’s most charismatic leaders.
Move Over: Women and the '92 Campaign PBS
In an unusual collaborative effort, Wisconsin Public Television conceived and organized an hour-long special broadcast about a national political trend: the increasing number of women in politics at all levels of public life.
The Pacific Century - PBS
This series of 10 hour-long programs tells the story of the growth to economic and political power, and perhaps world dominance, of Asia.
Massacre: The Story of East Timor -WBAI/Pacifica Radio
This program aired on the first anniversary of the Dili massacre, when Indonesian soldiers opened fire on a procession of peaceful East Timorese, killing more than 140 of them
Justice on Trial, The Lost Generation & Walking Wounded - WBFF-TV
This series of outstanding reports on the evening news and an hour-long special broadcast, all reported by Deborah Weiner, prove that a local station can cover the subject of urban crime and violence with sensitivity, original reporting and restraint.
Frontline: The Best Campaign Money Can Buy - PBS
This hour-long investigative report, which aired shortly before the 1992 presidential election, took a hard but witty look at the inherent ethical problems of financing presidential campaigns.
Armed Enemies of Castro - WPLG-TV, Miami
In a series of eight investigative reports for its evening news program, WPLG and reporter Rad Berky uncovered a secret anti-Castro group operating out of a paramilitary training camp in the Everglades.
The Coverage of Hurricane Andrew -WTVJ-TV, Miami
With extensive technical preparation and expert information from the station’s team of meteorologists, WTVJ became a lifeline for its region, staying on the air around the clock for nine consecutive days and providing a radio simulcast for those without electricity.