NEW YORK -- The PBS docu series "Frontline" grabbed the top award at Wednesday night's 56th annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Awards -- known as the "Pulitzers of broadcast journalism."
Television and radio news honchos came out in force for the evening, which was hosted by CNN senior international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and held in the Columbia U. library.
"Any consumer of broadcast news today knows there is a large and regrettable quality gap between the best and the work-a-day," said Tom Goldstein, dean of the Columbia U. Graduate School of Journalism. "This is all the more frustrating because we know how awfully good broadcasting can be ... these (winners) give us much hope for the future."
"Frontline," produced by WGBH Boston, received the Gold Baton for "remarkable quality and sustained commitment to controversial and sensitive stories." Four editions of the series were singled out for additional praise: "Murder, Money and Mexico"; "The Choice '96"; "Secret Daughter"; and "Innocence Lost: The Plea." Creator and senior exec producer David Fanning accepted the award.
Silver batons were awarded to:
NETWORK TV
ABC News "PrimeTime Live" for "Debt Reckoning"
NBC News and Scripps Howard News Prods. for "Why Can't We Live Together?"
CBS News for "Entering the Jury Room"
MAJOR MARKET TV
WABC-TV for "Room 104: The Overcrowding Crisis"
SMALL MARKET TV
Wisconsin Public Television for "Welcome to Poverty Hollow"
KTCA-TV (St. Paul, MN) for "Newsnight Minnesota: Unisys"
INDEPENDENT TV PRODUCTION
The Center for New American Media for "Vote for Me: Politics in America" airing on PBS
Blowback Prods. for "CIA: America's Secret Warriors" airing on Discovery Channel
Jon Else, Sandra Itkoff and Marc Reisner for "An American Nile" airing on PBS
KCET (Los Angeles) and the BBC for "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century" airing on PBS
RADIO
KUSC (Los Angeles) for "Marketplace" airing on Public Radio Intl.
The award ceremony will be broadcast today on PBS stations around the country.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com