Atlanta, GA
Atlanta News First reporting wins prestigious duPont Columbia Award
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Sixth, an in-depth investigative series produced by Atlanta News First Investigates (WANF-TV) and InvestigateTV, has been awarded a 2024 duPont-Columbia Award.
Award winners were announced at a ceremony Thursday hosted by David Muir and Audie Cornish at Columbia University’s Low Library. The award is considered the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, both administered by the university.
The series, led by investigative reporter Andy Pierrotti, examined the impact of public defender shortages throughout Georgia and the nation. While The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens accused of crimes the right to an attorney if they can’t afford one and a speedy trial, the series uncovered hundreds of people behind bars with no legal representation for months at a time.
Pierrotti traveled to Georgia, Wisconsin, Oregon and Maryland to document the consequences when there are no attorneys available for the poor and its impact to the criminal justice system.
Other contributors to the series include, Lee Zurik, vice president of investigations; Jamie Gray, managing editor at InvestigateTV; Lindsey Basye, executive producer of investigations; Luke Carter, investigative photojournalist and lead editor; Eric Carlton, investigative photojournalist; Dimitri Lotovski, investigative photojournalist; Bailey Williams, investigative producer; and Tim Darnell, digital content producer.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Columbia University and the jurors who believed the series was worthy of such an honor,” Pierrotti said. “I’m also lucky to work on a team with some of the best journalists in the country who helped make sure these important stories got on television and online.”
The journalism organization revealed 14 other winners during the evening, including PBS who won three, and The New York Times. Atlanta News First is among just five local news outlets to win.
The winning pieces go through a rigorous screening process before a group of nine jurors ultimately selects the award recipients.
“In this moment when truth is being tested here at home and around the world,” said Muir, “It is a privilege to honor the journalists who work tirelessly to uncover the truth, and who often risk their own lives to report on the most pressing stories of our time. Their work has never been more important, and it serves as an inspiration for us all”
Founded by Jessie Ball duPont in honor of her late husband Alfred I. duPont, for 80 years the duPont awards have set the standard for audio and video reporting, in broadcast, documentary and online.
The duPont-Columbia Awards uphold the highest standards in journalism by honoring winners annually, informing the public about those journalists’ contributions and supporting journalism education and innovation, thereby cultivating a collective spirit for the profession.
“Every year I am uplifted by the sense of purpose these journalists bring into the rotunda at this ceremony,” said duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen. “Their work is a model for our students, and journalists everywhere.”
2024 duPont-Columbia Award winners:
- 20 Days in Mariupol, The Associated Press | PBS FRONTLINE
- Accountability After Uvalde, Tony Plohetski & KVUE TV | The Austin American-Statesman
- Afghanistan, Undercover PBS FRONTLINE
- Aftershock, ABC News Studios | Onyx Collective | Hulu
- Against All Enemies, Scott Friedman & KXAS-TV (NBC)
- Beyond Utopia, Ideal Partners
- BURNED, KUSA 9NEWS Denver
- Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha, The New York Times
- Mother Country, Radicals Crooked Media
- Putin vs the West, Brook Lapping | Les Films D’ici
- Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong, APM Reports
- The 13th Step, New Hampshire Public Radio
- Environmental Reporting: (Combined) The Power of Water & Trashed, ABC News
- The Power of Water, ABC News
- Trashed: The Secret Life of Plastic Recycling, ABC News
- The Sixth, Andy Pierrotti & WANF-TV | InvestigateTV
- The U.S. and the Holocaust, Florentine Films | WETA
Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.
Atlanta, GA
Parents of teen shot at Atlanta pool party faces more struggles
ATLANTA – The family of a 17-year-old shot at a spring break pool party in Atlanta said their son has a long road to recovery.
Atlanta police arrested a 17-year-old for the shooting this week.
On April 2, Robert and Camaria Johnson said their son, Robert Johnson III, was at a spring break pool party at an apartment complex at 935 Marietta Street, when gunfire broke out.
“Robert was actually a bystander,” Camaria Johnson said.
He got hit three times, once in the back, once in the shoulder and once in the head.
“We couldn’t believe it, we didn’t believe it,” the couple said.
They told us doctors had to remove part of Robert’s skull to relieve swelling in his brain.
Miraculously, Robert survived, but he’s in bad shape.
He can breathe on his own, but that’s about all he can do at this point.
“He’s pretty much in a vegetative state…if his dad comes in and talks to him, he’ll open his eyes, but he doesn’t know which side he’s on,” Camaria said.
Just this week, APD’s Fugitive Unit arrested 17-year-old Jalin Hammons for the shooting and charged him with aggravated assault.
“I’m glad some justice is finally being served…it’s unfortunate, but you caused this issue and now you got to pay for it,” Robert Johnson Jr. said.
Right now, these parents are more focused on their son’s recovery.
They said the Shepherd Center told them he wasn’t “rehab-able.”
“That’s the word she used, meaning he didn’t have any functions, he wasn’t able to do anything. So, they didn’t see the need to accept him into long-term acute rehab,” Camaria said.
After weeks of searching, the couple has found a facility in Indiana that can give their son long-term care in his current condition.
It’s going to be expensive to transport him there.
“We’ll probably have to get an Angel flight there if Grady transport can’t get him the 9 hours there so he would need to be flown,” Camaria said.
That’s why they’ve started a GoFundMe, to raise the funds to get him to Indiana.
Doctors didn’t give Robert much of a chance for recovery of functioning.
The Johnsons said he’s already defied the odds just by staying alive and believe he can eventually recover some functionality.
“He wasn’t supposed to make it, with the trajectory of the bullet, he was not supposed to make it to Grady,” Camaria said.
“He’s fighting every day, he’s a strong kid. I got faith that he’ll come through, even if I don’t get the same son back as I had before, at least my son will still be here. And I can still love him, I can still talk to him, I’m still able to see him, I can still hug him,” Robert Jr. said.
They said they don’t like asking for help but need support if they’re going to get Robert to that facility in Indiana.
Atlanta, GA
12-year-old boy shot multiple times in Atlanta
ATLANTA – Police are investigating a shooting incident that left a 12-year-old boy injured in Atlanta. The incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. at the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Drive NW and Hamilton E. Holmes Drive NW.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers arrived at the scene to find the young boy suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including injuries to his stomach and arm. Despite his injuries, the boy was able to speak with medics before being transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The identity of the victim has not been released, and details about the shooter remain unknown. The Atlanta Police Department’s Aggravated Assault Unit is leading the investigation as they work to gather more information about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Anyone with information related to the incident is urged to contact the Atlanta Police Department.
This story is breaking. Check back for details. If you have additional information, pictures, or video email newstipsatlanta@fox.com.
Atlanta, GA
America’s last pandas expected to leave Atlanta for China this autumn
The last US zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall.
Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday.
There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it is likely to happen between October and December.
The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Atlanta received Lun Lun and Yang Yang from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire.
Ya Lun and Xi Lun, born in 2016, are the youngest of seven pandas born at Zoo Atlanta since their parents arrived. Their siblings are already in the care of China’s Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding.
It is possible that America will welcome a new panda pair before the Atlanta bears depart. The San Diego Zoo said last month that staff members recently travelled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer.
Zoo Atlanta officials said in a news release they should be able to share “significant advance notice” before their pandas leave.
As to whether Atlanta might see host any future pandas, “no discussions have yet taken place with partners in China”, zoo officials said.
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