“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.

 

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.”

“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.

“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.

“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 ArabiaMyanmar’s Killing FieldsMosulPutin’s RevengeThe 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.”

 

 

Rain Media Wins Writer’s Guild Award

Confronting ISIS, Rain Media’s October 2016 investigation of the complexities and challenges of the U.S.-led fight against the terror group, won the “Documentary Script — Current Events” category at the 2018 Writers Guild Awards on February 11th, 2018.

“I am honored that the guild has recognized our film. Sadly, we found that the inequities and sectarianism that gave rise to ISIS still prevail across the Middle East,” said Smith, who while making the documentary reported from five countries with key roles in the anti-ISIS fight — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Turkey. “I’d like to thank FRONTLINE executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath for her unwavering editorial support and acumen and all my colleagues for their extraordinary dedication and intelligence.”

Rain Media Wins a Peabody Award

United States of Secrets, FRONTLINE’s two-part investigation of the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities post-9/11, has been honored with a Peabody Award for excellence in documentary filmmaking. Rain Media produced Part Two of this series, examining how Silicon Valley feeds the NSA’s global surveillance dragnet.

“With extensive, candid interviews from both critics and defenders, FRONTLINE provided a great public service, revealing in clear, comprehensible detail how the U.S. government in its post-9/11 zeal came to monitor and collect the communications of millions of people around the world – and here at home – and the lengths to which officials have gone to hide the massive surveillance from the public,” said the announcement on the Peabody Awards website.

The Peabody Award for United States of Secrets will be presented on May 31, 2015.

Rain Media Wins Emmy for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting – Long Form

Emmy Award

Rain Media was a winner at the 35th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards with The Retirement Gamble (2013), an investigation into whether your IRA or 401(k) accounts will ensure a safe retirement. The film won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting – Long Form. The Retirement Gamble was produced by Rain Media’s Marcela Gaviria and featured Martin Smith as correspondent. You can stream the film for free any time on FRONTLINE’s website. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Martin Smith Receives the 2014 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism

Martin Smith in Afgahnistan

Rain Media is very proud to announce that founder Martin Smith is the recipient of the 2014 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, presented by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Smith was selected in recognition of his courageous and insightful reporting on some of the most complex stories of our time: everything from revolutions in Central America and the fall of communism in Russia, to the rise of Al Qaeda and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The John Chancellor Award is presented each year to a reporter for his or her cumulative accomplishments. The prize honors the legacy of pioneering television correspondent and longtime NBC News anchor John Chancellor. Selected by a nine-member committee, Smith receives the 2014 award with a $25,000 cash prize. The award will be presented at a dinner ceremony at Columbia University’s Low Library in New York on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014.

“Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Martin Smith has produced a truly unique body of work with independence and credibility,” said Steve Coll, dean of the journalism school. “Smith’s work represents the best of public interest journalism, and embodies the spirit of the John Chancellor Award.”

“Whether presciently reporting on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden both before and immediately after 9/11, trying to understand the collapse of a new economy in Dot-Con, or laying out in delicious detail The Madoff Affair, Marty Smith has shown the kind of range and reportorial chops that any of us would envy,” said David Fanning, FRONTLINE executive producer.

“Marty is an astonishingly insightful, tenacious and courageous journalist and filmmaker whose reporting makes the world a better place,” said FRONTLINE deputy executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath, 95’. “It’s an honor to work with him, and we’re thrilled to premiere his next documentary, The Rise of ISIS, on October 28.”

 Click here to read Martin’s full biography.

Rain Media Nominated for 3 Emmy Awards

Rain Media has been nominated for three News & Documentary Emmy Awards this year. The winners will be announced announced on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center in New York City.

Rain Media’s Egypt in Crisis was nominated in the Outstanding Coverage a Current News Story—Long Form category. The film was produced by Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria, with GlobalPost‘s Charles Sennott as correspondent.

Meanwhile, two Rain Media films were nominated in the Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting—Long Form category. The Retirement Gamble, produced by Marcela Gaviria with Martin Smith as correspondent received the first nomination; while The Untouchables, produced by Martin Smith and co-produced by Linda Hirsch and Ben Gold received the second nomination.