#71: Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad and OSM's Shima Oliaee on Reporting “The Flag and the Fury”
Radiolab's Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee join duPont-Columbia Awards Director Lisa R. Cohen to discuss how they reported "The Flag and the Fury" which won a 2021 duPont award. They explain how what started as an historical audio documentary turned into a breaking news story in the summer of 2020 and the ways they handled that change. Visit our website: www.onassignmentpodcast.com Visit the duPont awards website: www.duPont.org Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/columbiajourn Like is on Facebook: facebook.com/duPontColumbiaAwards
4 Jun 202138min
#70: KSTP News Director Kirk Varner on Covering George Floyd’s Murder and a Summer of Protest
KSTP News Director, Kirk Varner discusses the difficulty of reporting on the murder of George Floyd and the protests that rocked Minneapolis throughout the summer of 2020. In this conversation with duPont Awards Director Lisa R. Cohen, Varner tells behind-the-scenes stories about split second newsroom decisions, like when a truck drove through protestors on live air. Visit our website: www.onassignmentpodcast.com Visit the duPont awards website: www.duPont.org Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/columbiajourn Like is on Facebook: facebook.com/duPontColumbiaAwards
14 Mai 202134min
#69: WNBC Anchor David Ushery on Covering Coronavirus from the Epicenter
David Ushery, discusses reporting on coronavirus last spring, as New York City became the epicenter of a pandemic. The WNBC team brought viewers vital life and death information about COVID, day after day, in real time. Their reporting won a 2021 duPont-Columbia award. In this conversation with duPont Awards Director, Lisa R. Cohen, Ushery recounts the uncertainty of the pandemic’s early days, his team’s commitment to transparently inform viewers, and how WNBC reporters and photographers grappled with the fear of reporting on a highly infectious virus. Visit our website: www.onassignmentpodcast.com Visit the duPont awards website: www.duPont.org Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/columbiajourn Like is on Facebook: facebook.com/duPontColumbiaAwards
2 Apr 202131min
#68: The Washington Post's Nadine Ajaka on the Value of Visual Forensics
Nadine Ajaka, The Washington Post’s senior producer for visual forensics, talks about her team’s reconstruction of the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington D.C which won a 2021 duPont-Columbia award. By analyzing visual evidence, Ajaka and her team meticulously recreated the moments leading up to Donald Trump’s infamous “bible photo-op” in front of St. John’s church. See the full reconstruction, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxYmILDya0A&t=77s Visit our website: onassignmentpodcast.com Visit the duPont awards website: duPont.org Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/columbiajourn Like is on Facebook: facebook.com/duPontColumbiaAwards
5 Mar 202118min
#67 Radiolab's Latif Nasser on Finding "The Other Latif"
In this conversation with duPont Awards Director, Lisa R. Cohen and Executive Director of Prizes, Abi Wright, Radiolab's Latif Nasser discusses his podcast "The Other Latif". Tune in as Nasser talks the challenges of reporting on Guantanamo Bay, reveals how he initially found this story via a tweet, and reflects on his own identity as a Muslim living in the United States.
5 Feb 202137min
#66: Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz on their 2020 duPont Award-Winning Podcast, Bag Man
In our latest episode, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz discuss their duPont Award-winning podcast, Bag Man, which details the brazen wrongdoing of Richard Nixon’s Vice President, Spiro T. Agnew -- and why so many have forgotten about him altogether.
8 Jan 202132min
#65: Donald G. McNeil Jr. with Michael Barbaro in our own "The Daily: This Is Your Life" episode
The New York Times’ Science and Health Reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., was months ahead of the general public, as he foretold the disastrous effects of COVID-19 early last spring. The winner of the 2020 John Chancellor Excellence in Journalism award-winner has been informing audiences of The Times’ podcast The Daily, and he’s joined here by The Daily host Michael Barbaro in a recent J-School student session to celebrate McNeil’s Chancellor win.
4 Des 202053min
#64: Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
In our latest episode of On Assignment, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and duPont juror Mark Whitaker reflect on the lessons learned from Gates’ 2020 duPont-winning documentary series Reconstruction: America After the Civil War. The conversation is timely, as the nation reckons with the current fragile political climate, and the country’s legacy of slavery in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others.
6 Nov 202041min
