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Rain Media's short "The Last Call", co-published with The New Yorker, has been named a finalist in the 2021 Online Journalism Awards.
Produced during reporting for FRONTLINE's documentary "The Virus: What Went Wrong," "The Last Call" chronicles New York City nurse Jessica Caro's harrowing experience in the spring of 2020 as multiple members of her family, including her mother, contracted the coronavirus. Unable to comfort or support her mother in person, Jessica is forced to do what she can over phone and text. "The Last Call" shows not only the personal pain behind the statistics of coronavirus, but also the way that the deadly disease has upended the ways loved ones connect — and say goodbye.
"The Last Call" is one of two finalists in the short form category for Digital Video Storytelling. Winners will be announced October 15, 2021.
The Crown Prince
Comments Off on "The Crown Prince" Named 2021 duPont-Columbia Award Finalist
Rain Media's documentary, "The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia" has been selected as one of 30 finalists for the 2021 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards today, the first time the jury has ever selected a group of finalists for the duPont Silver Baton.
The duPont-Columbia finalists covered the most critical, and in some cases dangerous, stories of the year including the coronavirus pandemic, policing in America and protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
At a time when journalists were branded as "enemies of the people" spreading "fake news," facing arrest for doing their jobs and the threat of coronavirus while covering public events and breaking news, the jury selected a larger number of stories in the public service across platforms. The winners of the duPont awards will be announced in January 2021.
"These are unprecedented times, and we wanted to spotlight a wider range of outstanding journalism that is so crucial to making sense of our world," said Lisa R. Cohen, Director of the duPont-Columbia Awards. "These finalists rose to the top of a very competitive group."
"In a year when truth was under assault and a pandemic raged across the globe, journalists took on an especially important role under difficult circumstances," said Cheryl Gould, duPont Jury Chair and former NBC News executive. "The duPont-Columbia Awards recognize the stellar reporting which informed the public at a critical time, helped hold officials accountable, and supported our democracy."
"The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia", which first aired on PBS Frontline on October 1st, 2019 and was produced by Martin Smith, Linda Hirsch and Sara Obeidat.
Separated: Children at the Border
The Pension Gamble
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Rain Media Nominated for Two Emmy Awards
Rain Media has earned two News and Documentary Emmy Nominations for their documentaries "Separated: Children at the Border" and "The Pension Gamble." PBS Frontline earned 10 Nominations, total.
"Separated" was nominated in the category for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. "The Pension Gamble" earned a nomination in the category for "Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary."
"From our longform documentaries to our interactive work, it is an honor to have the breadth of our journalism recognized in this way," says FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. "We are grateful to PBS, CPB and WGBH for their enduring support of our reporting and mission, and proud to be nominated alongside our colleagues in public media."
Comments Off on "Separated: Children at the Border" wins 2019 Peabody Award
"Separated: Children at the Border" wins 2019 Peabody Award
Rain Media's documentary Separated: Children at the Border won a 2019 George Foster Peabody Award on Tuesday.
The film, which won in the news category, investigated the origins and impact of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. From producer Marcela Gaviria and correspondent Martin Smith, the documentary traced what happened to children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, examined the immigration policies of both the Trump and Obama administrations, and found that separations were happening to families who crossed the border illegally months before "zero tolerance" was officially announced.
"In response to the U.S. government's decision to separate migrant children from their parents in processing centers, FRONTLINE shows characteristic attention to broader contexts undergirding the policy and its enactment," the Peabody Board of Jurors said in a citation.
Noting that Separated "explores the roots of the policy in El Paso, Texas, 12 months prior to it making headlines, and draws a line from Obama-era practice and infrastructure to current policy," the jurors said the "report and its makers commendably show as much care and attention to the humans and traumas of the story as to its politics and rhetoric."
"We wanted to provide clarity on a complex, politically fraught story," Gaviria said. "We are enormously grateful to FRONTLINE for supporting this project and to the Peabody jurors for their recognition."
"There are awards, and then there are the Peabodys," Smith said. "We are deeply honored."
"It's gratifying to learn that our reporting on family separations at the border has been named a Peabody Award recipient, joining our investigation of Facebook among this year's winning works," said FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. "Thank you to the Peabody Board of Jurors, our tireless film teams, our loyal viewers, and to WGBH, PBS and CPB for championing our journalism."
Since 1940, the George Foster Peabody Awards have honored excellence in broadcasting. The awards now recognize excellence in digital storytelling as well. The 78th annual Peabody Awards ceremony will take place on May 18 in New York City.
Comments Off on "Separated: Children at the Border" Nominated for Peabody Award
"Separated: Children at the Border" Nominated for Peabody Award
Rain Media documentary, "Separated: Children at the Border", was named a 2019 George Foster Peabody Award finalist on Tuesday. "Separated" was nominated in the News category.
In "Separated: Children at the Border", acclaimed producer Marcela Gaviria and correspondent Martin Smith tell the inside story of what happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The July 2018 documentary examines immigration policy under both President Trump and President Obama, investigates the origins of "zero tolerance" — and reveals the journeys and voices of children who were separated from their parents.
"We're so proud to have two of our deeply-reported investigations acknowledged by the Peabody Awards as finalists," says FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. "It's an honor to be recognized in both the Awards' documentary and news categories. Thank you to our intrepid reporters, our loyal viewers and to PBS and CPB for championing our journalism."
Since 1940, the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards have honored excellence in broadcasting. The awards now recognize excellence in digital storytelling as well. The winners of this year's Peabody Awards in the documentary category will be announced April 16, and the news category will be announced April 23. The 77th annual Peabody Awards ceremony will take place on May 18, 2019, in New York City.
Bitter Rivals
The Gang Crackdown
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"The Gang Crackdown" and "Bitter Rivals" awarded 2019 duPont-Columbia Gold Baton
FRONTLINE, the acclaimed PBS investigative series, has been honored with a Gold Baton, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards' highest honor — a prestigious award for excellence in journalism that hasn't been given for a decade.
In a recognition of FRONTLINE's dynamic range of work across multiple platforms — including broadcast documentaries, digital interactive storytelling, and an original, narrative podcast — the series was acknowledged by the duPonts for being both "a standard-bearer and innovator."
"This year FRONTLINE produced an exceptional lineup of outstanding programs that illustrated how well it both champions traditional documentaries while also forging ahead with cutting edge, adaptive content," the duPont citation reads, pointing to eight FRONTLINE projects that exemplify the scope of the series' work: six FRONTLINE documentaries on both domestic and international issues (Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia; Myanmar's Killing Fields; Mosul, Putin's Revenge; The Gang Crackdown; and Life on Parole, in collaboration with The New York Times); a two-part story from the new podcast series, The FRONTLINE Dispatch (Living With Murder, pts. 1 & 2, in collaboration with Transom.org); and an interactive digital documentary about climate change in collaboration with The GroundTruth Project, The Last Generation.
"This Gold Baton is an acknowledgement of FRONTLINE's evolution from a longstanding documentary series to a multi-platform journalism organization, that is also committed to uncovering vital stories and telling them in new ways," says FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath, who has led FRONTLINE since 2015 and is herself a graduate of Columbia Journalism School. "From our long-form documentaries, to our audio stories, to our digital interactives – it is an incredible honor to have the full breadth of FRONTLINE's work this year recognized by the duPont jury in this way. Thank you to PBS, CPB and WGBH; all of our funders; and our audience for their constant support and for encouraging us to push the boundaries of our storytelling."
The last Gold Baton given was awarded to WFAA-TV Dallas as part of the 2009 duPont-Columbia Awards. Prior to this year's Gold Baton, FRONTLINE had earned two Gold Batons tied to its 1988-89 and 1996-1997 seasons, and one for its post-Sept. 11, 2001 documentaries on terrorism and counter-terrorism. This year's is the first Gold Baton to honor a body of work that includes a podcast and an interactive digital documentary.
"Congratulations to FRONTLINE for receiving the Gold Baton at this year's duPont-Columbia University Awards," says Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS. "Raney Aronson-Rath and her team are second to none when it comes to investigative journalism, and all of us at PBS are thrilled to see FRONTLINE recognized with this richly deserved honor."
"This recognition for FRONTLINE highlights the critical role of serious, fact-based journalism in our democracy. Their groundbreaking work has set the bar for investigative reporting, work we are committed to in public media," says Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH in Boston, where FRONTLINE is headquartered. "We are extremely proud of the inspired leadership of Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath and the extraordinary work of the entire FRONTLINE team."
Cell Tower Deaths
Power & Wall Street
Six Billion Dollar Bet
The Regime Responds
Rain Media Earns Four News & Documentary Emmy Nominations
Rain Media earned four News & Documentary Emmy nominations yesterday for its work for PBS FRONTLINE in 2012.
The Regime Responds was nominated for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine.
Six Billion Dollar Bet and Cell Tower Deaths, a FRONTLINE-ProPublica collaboration, were both nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting in a News Magazine.
And the four-hour series Money, Power & Wall Street was nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting — Long Form. Rain Media shares this nomination with the Kirk Documentary Group.
Watch "The Spill" on PBS Frontline
Over the past decade, BP vaulted from an energy "also-ran" to one of the biggest companies in the world, gobbling up competitors in a series of mergers that delivered handsome profits for shareholders. But an investigation by FRONTLINE and the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica shows that BP's leadership failed to create a culture of safety in the massive new company. As BP took increasingly big risks to find oil and extract it, the company left behind a trail of mounting problems: deadly accidents, disastrous spills, countless safety violations. Each time, BP acknowledged the wider flaws in its culture and promised to do better. The FRONTLINE/ProPublica investigation shows that the rhetoric was empty. From the refineries to the oil fields to the Gulf of Mexico, BP workers understood that profits came first.