NPR NEWS STATIONS DOMINATE RTDNA AWARDS

Last Monday 10/12 the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) presented this year’s Edward R. Murrow Awards honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism. NPR News stations did very, very well, winning 18 out of 25 awards in the Radio category. Commercial news stations won the other seven.

Public radio continues to show its news reporting savvy. In September at the Online News Association ONA) Awards NPR and NPR News stations swept all radio categories.

New Hampshire Public Radio won top Murrow Award honors for its Overall Excellence in a Smaller Market. WCBS won the Larger Market Award. At OMA Awards KBIA, Columbia, Missouri won top honors for General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small Size Staff.  

Two public radio shops also won Murrow Awards for Excellence in Websites: Minnesota Pubic Radio (MPR) in Large Markets and WFIU/WTIU, Bloomington, Indiana in Smaller Markets.

The RTDNA and ONA recognitions demonstrate how NPR News and NPR stations are establishing a unique news presence on multiple platforms. News content is a hot magnet for readers and listeners that will increase the perceived value of public media in society.

Winning NPR News Stations included Hawaii Public Radio, KBIA, WAMU, WGCU, WUNC, WGLT, WNIN, MPR, KUOW, WUWM, WSHU and WCPN. NPR won three Murrow Awards in the Network Radio & Television category. An entry from State of the Re:Union about Transexaul Families also won a Murrow Award.

Scroll down to see the winners in the Radio category. You can see all of the RTDNA winners at [link] and regional Murrow Award winners at [link].

PORTRAIT OF A WINNER: BETRAYED BY SILENCE (MPR)

In the Twin Cities MPR continues to establish itself as the news of record for the area. MPR’s digital presence runs rings around websites and mobile media from the two local daily newspapers.  If news happens here, the place to turn is MPR. People support MPR because its content is essential.

Last year MPR aired a documentary and special reports called Betrayed By Silence: How Three Archbishops Hid the Truth.

The reporting told how for decades, the archbishops who led the Catholic archdiocese in the Twin Cities maintained that they were doing everything they could to protect children from pedophile priests. MPR broke the news about how three archbishops participated in a cover-up that pitted the finances and power of the church against the victims who dared to come forward and tell their stories. The reports led to a number of resignations at the archdiocese and further investigations.

Betrayed By Silence was reported by Madeleine Baran and produced by Sasha Aslanian with help from Manda Lillie, Meg Martin, Tom Scheck and Laura Yuen. It was edited by Mike Edgerly and mixed by Erik Stromstad and Rob Byers. The project's editor was Chris Worthington. Learn more about Betrayed By Silence at [link].

2015 RTDNA MURROW AWARD RADIO WINNERS