S.F. Quake, Hugo Coverage Capture Peabody Awards
News coverage of Hurricane Hugo and the devastating San Francisco earthquake earned top honors today in the 50th annual Peabody Awards, which often are called the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism.
The University of Georgia, which governs the George Foster Peabody Awards program, bestowed 27 awards, citing news broadcasts in South Carolina and California for providing “an information lifeline” to disaster-stricken audiences.
KCBS-AM radio and KGO-TV in San Francisco captured Peabody awards for coverage of the 1989 earthquake, while WCSC-TV in Charleston, S.C., won a Peabody for its reporting on Hurricane Hugo.
Other recipients included CBS Radio News in New York and Cable News Network in Atlanta for coverage of last spring’s student uprising in China.
Broadcasting pioneer J. Leonard Reinsch and veteran newscaster David Brinkley of ABC-TV were honored for distinguished careers in broadcasting.
Awards for television dramas went to the CBS movie “Lonesome Dove”; ABC Television’s “The Wonder Years,” “China Beach” and “Small Sacrifices”; and the Children’s Television Workshop’s “Sesame Street.”
The awards will be presented in Atlanta at the Peabody Awards Golden Anniversary dinner April 3 on the closing night of the National Assn. of Broadcasters’ annual convention. Winners were chosen from 812 entries.
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