Alums and IRP students win regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

From top leftt: Lisa Pickoff-White, Tyche Hendricks, Bella Arnold, Brian Krans, Krissy Waite, Simmerdeep Kaur, Hanisha Harjani, Adam Solorzano and Grace Marion.

Two major investigations from KQED, reported by alums and one with help from 6 students at UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program, have been awarded top honors in the Region 2 Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

A story by Lisa Pickoff-White (’09,) director of research for the California Reporting Project based out of the Investigative Reporting Program, won the Investigative Reporting Murrow. This story was done in partnership with the California Newsroom, a statewide collaboration of public media outlets led by KQED. The team investigated the prevalence of deaths caused by police officers holding people face down, despite warnings going back as far as 1995 about the danger of the prone restraint position. The story was published in partnership with the Guardian.

IRP students Bella Arnold (’24), Hanisha Harjani (’23), Simmerdeep Kaur (’24), Grace Marion (’24), Adam Solorzano (’24) and Krissy Waite (’23) contributed research. Additional reporting by Brian Krans (’18) of The California Newsroom.

KQED’s Senior Editor, Immigration Tyche Hendricks’ (’97) story on drug crackdowns in San Francisco was recognized in the category of Hard News. Hendricks’ reporting synthesizes different perspectives on increased federal law enforcement against street drugs and their implications for immigrants. Hendricks brings together viewpoints from a variety of San Francisco residents, including parents living in the Tenderloin, immigration advocates and a criminal prosecutor – all conveying different sides of a complex issue.

Since 1971, RTDNA has been honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards. Among the most prestigious in news, the Murrow Awards recognize local and national news stories that uphold the RTDNA Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community. Murrow Award-winning work demonstrates the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the broadcast news profession.

National winners will be announced in August, followed by a celebration at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on Oct. 13 at Gotham Hall in New York City.