FRONTLINE Journalist Honored with Walter Cronkite Award

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism announced today that A.C. Thompson is a recipient of one of the 10th biennial Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Television Political Journalism.

This is the first Walter Cronkite Award given to a producer for their work on a FRONTLINE documentary.

Thompson served as a producer and on-camera correspondent for FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s two-part investigative series Documenting Hate, which examined the resurgence of white supremacist groups in America. Part one, Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, aired on PBS in August 2018, and part two, Documenting Hate: New American Nazis aired in November 2018.

Thompson was recognized by Cronkite Award judges in the “individual achievement by a national journalist” category. MSNBC/NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff was also honored in this category.

“My background is in print and web journalism, so it’s a real honor to be recognized for my work in television,” says Thompson. “The recognition by the Walter Cronkite Awards committee is also a sign that audiences seem to be taking our reporting on the violent white supremacist movement seriously.”

In the Cronkite Award judges’ remarks, Thompson’s reporting was hailed as “exemplary journalism” and “old-school gumshoe investigative reporting with high-tech detective work.” They added that Thompson’s work illustrates “his commitment, and FRONTLINE’s, to ‘chasing down the story and getting answers.’”

“We are thrilled to hear that A.C. is being recognized with a Walter Cronkite Award,” says FRONTLINE’s Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “A.C.’s commitment to unearthing the truth embodies what it means to be a journalist, and we are proud to work alongside him and ProPublica to tell these tough but important stories. We congratulate him on this honor. ”

The Walter Cronkite Awards will be presented on Friday, April 26, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. You can read about the rest of this year’s Walter Cronkite Award winners here, and you can explore Thompson’s award-winning journalism for FRONTLINE below:

Documenting Hate: Charlottesville (credits):

Documenting Hate: New American Nazis (credits):