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Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting Wins Peabody Award

Louisville Public Media’s Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting has won a prestigious Peabody Award, which recognizes the nation’s most powerful storytelling. KyCIR’s multi-platform investigative reporting series, “The Pope’s Long Con,” was considered among “the best of the best” out of 1,200 entries in television, radio, podcast, and web programming broadcast in 2017.

“This incredible podcast about a local politician known as “the Pope” demonstrates the importance of checks and balances—and of dogged local journalism,” the Peabody judges noted in their comments.

The podcast has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times and featured prominently by Apple Podcasts, including a designation last week as a “bingeable listen.”

Louisville Public Media is also home to 89.3 WFPL News, Louisville’s NPR affiliate.

“I’m so proud of our team at KyCIR and WFPL News, who put in long hours and made personal and professional sacrifices over the course of an intense seven-month investigation to bring this important work to the public,” said Stephen George, interim president of Louisville Public Media. “This award gives national recognition to the power and necessity of local reporting at a time when journalism everywhere is under threat. As a nonprofit newsroom, we’re fortunate to have a community in Louisville that provides a strong backbone for this work.”

“The Pope’s Long Con” is a five-part series and podcast reported by R.G. Dunlop and Jacob Ryan and produced by Laura Ellis. The full team credited on the series includes editors Brendan McCarthy, Erica Peterson and George; web developer Alexandra Kanik; and creative director Sean Cannon. Carrie Neumayer made the illustrations, and scoring was done by Kevin Ratterman and La La Land Sound. A grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism helped support the work.

The series launched on Dec. 11, 2017, and focused on state Rep. Dan Johnson’s life of fraud and deceit, including allegations of arson and sexual assault of a minor. Lawmakers called for Johnson’s resignation within hours of the story’s publication, and Louisville’s mayor demanded that police reopen their investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

Johnson died by suicide on Dec. 13. After Johnson’s death, LPM pulled all promotion for the series and released the entire podcast at once, abandoning its original schedule. In a series of public statements, the organization shared condolences for Johnson’s family and supporters, and reaffirmed its commitment to the story. The Columbia Journalism Review called “The Pope’s Long Con” — and the organization’s response — “an exemplar not only of dogged local reporting, but also a how-to for newsrooms grappling with unexpected ramifications.”

The Peabody Awards were established in 1940 as the “Pulitzer Prize for Radio” and grew to include a variety of other digital media, including TV and the web. They honor “the most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in television, radio and digital media.”

Other winners in this year’s news and podcast category included Lost Mothers: Maternal Mortality in the U.S.” from NPR and Pro Publica, “S-Town,” from Serial and This American Life, “74 Seconds” from Minnesota Public Radio and “Uncivil: The Raid” from Gimlet Media.

In other Peabody categories, awards went to major networks like HBO for Insecure and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Hulu for the Handmaid’s Tale, and Netflix for Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King.

The 77th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Members of the team that reported and produced “The Pope’s Long Con” will attend to accept the award.

This is the second Peabody Award for Louisville Public Media. In 1951, 89.3 WFPL received a Peabody in recognition of outstanding public service.

Earlier this month, “The Pope’s Long Con” was awarded a national Investigative Reporters and Editors prize for best investigative radio and a first place award from the Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters Association.

 

Kirsten is the Director of Marketing at LPM. Email Kirsten at kpfalzgraf@lpm.org.