FRONTLINE, the acclaimed investigative documentary series produced at GBH in Boston, received three 2024 George Foster Peabody Awards.  

The series was recognized in the following categories: 20 Days in Mariupol, a 2024 Academy Award® winner, won in the documentary category; America and the Taliban won in the public service category; and Clarence & Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court won in the news category.

A visceral, first-person view of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 20 Days in Mariupol is told through the perspective of Ukrainian filmmaker and AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov. The 2023 film follows Chernov and his AP colleagues Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko as they become the last international journalists reporting from Mariupol as Russian forces close in. The journalists, who would go on to win a 2023 Pulitzer Prize, document some of the most indelible images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more. 20 Days in Mariupol is directed, written and produced by Chernov, and produced and edited by FRONTLINE’s Michelle Mizner alongside producers Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer, and Derl McCrudden, AP’s vice president of news.

“With their safety under constant threat, these intrepid filmmakers captured some of the most excruciating images of the war: fighter jets overhead followed by mass graves, some filled with children; a bombed maternity hospital and pregnant women fleeing it,” the Peabody Award jurors noted, adding that they were awarding the film a Peabody to recognize “its harrowing account of civilian life during a brutal conflict, and its insistence on the world bearing witness.”

In Clarence & Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of Clarence and Ginni Thomas’ path to power, uncovering how race, power, and controversy shaped the rise of the Supreme Court justice and his wife. Made with support from Preserving Democracy, a public media initiative from The WNET Group, Clarence & Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court is directed by Michael Kirk and produced by Kirk, Mike Wiser and Vanessa Fica.

In the comments from the Peabody Award jurors, they noted that “FRONTLINE secured interviews with childhood friends and classmates of both Thomases, former romantic partners, and associates who watched the two accumulate allies and enemies as they rose through Republican circles in Washington.” The Peabody Award jurors said that the film “paint[ed] a revelatory psychological and social portrait of an American power couple at the center of today’s fights over democracy and individual rights.”

In its 2023 three-part series America and the Taliban, FRONTLINE draws on decades of on-the-ground reporting and interviews with Taliban and U.S. officials. Directed and produced by Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith, and produced by Brian Funck, this epic investigation traces how America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan culminated in Taliban victory and examines the missteps and consequences.

The Peabody Award jurors lauded the America and the Taliban team for “link[ing] familiar events with little-known facts, [and] bringing viewers behind the headlines and political spin for a closer look.” They added that “this impactful series draws a powerful and clear portrait of U.S. military operations over time, with surprising results,” and that it was honored with a Peabody Award for its ability to “[take] viewers on an eye-opening journey across a country and war that are all too often misunderstood.”

“We’re grateful to see our documentary storytelling be recognized by the George Foster Peabodys — from our domestic reporting on the Supreme Court, to our international reporting on the war in Ukraine with the AP and the lasting cost of the war in Afghanistan,” said FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We share today’s great news with our unflinching, award-winning film teams, our editorial partners, and of course GBH, PBS and CPB whose support allows us to tell these critical, global stories.”

Since 1940, the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards have honored excellence in broadcasting. The awards now recognize excellence in digital storytelling as well.

Including this year’s winners, six FRONTLINE documentaries — 20 Days in Mariupol (in partnership with The Associated Press); After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics (in partnership with The Texas Tribune and Futuro Investigates); America and the Taliban; America’s Dangerous Trucks (in partnership with ProPublica); Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court; and Inside the Iranian Uprising — were nominated for 2024 Peabody Awards.

“We celebrate both our winning and nominated film teams today and remain grateful to the Peabody Awards’ jurors for acknowledging the breadth of our investigative journalism this year,” Aronson-Rath added.

Of the 35 total Peabody Awards given this year, PBS produced five wins. To date, FRONTLINE has won 34 Peabody Awards. Stream our 2024 Peabody Award-winners below:

20 Days in Mariupol (Credits)

Clarence & Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court (Credits)

America and the Taliban: Part One (Credits)

America and the Taliban: Part Two

America and the Taliban: Part Three