WFAA8 adds another Peabody to its already bulging trophy case
04/02/08 01:28 PM
By ED BARK
Dallas-Fort Worth's most-honored television news operation made another big impression Wednesday, this time with the George Foster Peabody Awards.
WFAA8 won a combined Peabody for four separate investigative series. Their two reporters, Byron Harris and Brett Shipp, are both previous Peabody honorees.
Shipp won for "The Buried and the Dead" and "Kinder Prison," which respectively looked at "dubious practices" by the Texas Railroad Commission and questionable incarcerations at the Homeland Security-run T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility in Taylor, TX.
Harris was cited for reports on the U.S. Export-Import Bank and a probe of Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" sting operation in Murphy, TX.
Photographer Kraig Kirchem worked on all four reports, with Mark Smith the producer. It's WFAA's sixth Peabody. The first came in 1986 for an investigation of football recruiting practices at Southern Methodist University. WFAA8's series of reports led to an NCAA-imposed "death penalty" for the school.
"I'm very happy for these guys," WFAA8 president and general manager Mike Devlin said Wednesday. "To win a Peabody is a very significant event."
The Peabodys, in their 67th year, rank with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia and Edward R. Murrow awards as broadcast TV's most prestigious.
Another Texas-generated program, Whole Lotta Shakin', also won a Peabody. The 10-part radio series on rockabilly music was produced by the Texas Heritage Music Foundation.
In the network entertainment category, NBC's 30 Rock, Showtime's Dexter, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, AMC's Mad Men and Bravo's Project Runway were Peabody winners.
Bob Woodruff and Kimberly Dozier, both seriously injured during the Iraq war, were honored for their subsequent reports on ABC and CBS.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will present the awards during a June 16th luncheon at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.