CNN, PBS and Univision represent TV news on the list of the 2012 Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards.
CNN international correspondent Arwa Damon and photojournalist Sarmad Qaseera won the IRE Medal for their coverage of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, who the judges said “provided additional valuable context about the milieu in which the consulate attack occurred.” The report was also honored in IRE’s Investigations Triggered by Breaking News category.
Univision’s newsmagazine, “Aquí y Ahora,” won in the broadcast video division for “Rápido y Furioso,” its investigation of the Fast and the Furious program. “Rápido y Furioso” also won a 2012 Peabody Award.
CNN Digital and PBS won in the multiplatform news category. CNN digital reporters John D. Sutter and Edythe McNamee were honored for their travels to Africa to report “Mauritania: Slavery’s Last Stronghold.” PBS won for “Big Sky, Big Money,” an investigation of campaign finance that was done in partnership with ProPublica.
>Update: CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker’s note to staff is after the jump.
I am delighted to share with you news that CNN has been named the winner of two 2012 Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards — a rare honor and the first time our network has earned multiple IRE accolades in a single calendar year. The awards, which recognize the year’s most outstanding watchdog journalism, selected CNN’s coverage of the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi as an IRE Medal winner and named CNN Digital’s investigation of slavery in Mauritania, “Slavery’s Last Stronghold,” a winner in the ‘Multiplatform’ category.
In an announcement earlier today, IRE Judges highlighted the “courageous reporting” of senior international correspondent Arwa Damon and photojournalist Sarmad Qaseera, and said John Sutter and Edythe McNamee’s investigation in Mauritania “upholds the highest ideals of journalism.”
Please join me in congratulating Arwa, Sarmad, John, Edythe and everyone who contributed to these powerful and provocative acts of journalism. You should be very proud.
JEFF