FRONTLINE Earns Five Peabody Awards Nominations

 Five FRONTLINE documentaries exploring some of the most pressing domestic and international issues have been named 2021 George Foster Peabody Award nominees:

• Whose Vote Counts, FRONTLINE’s October 2020 film in partnership with Columbia Journalism Investigations and reporters from the USA TODAY Network, examined allegations of voter disenfranchisement in the lead up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. From FRONTLINE correspondent and New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb, producer Tom Jennings and director June Cross, the investigation examined how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream, and ultimately whose vote counted and whose was endangered.
• Policing the Police 2020, a FRONTLINE September 2020 film, examined the realities of race and policing in America against the backdrop of a global pandemic and the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of the police. From correspondent and New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb, producers James Jacoby and Anya Bourg, and in partnership with WNET’s Chasing the Dream, the documentary revisited the Newark Police Department, whose police-reform efforts the team first began reporting on in 2016.
• COVID’s Hidden Toll, a July 2020 investigation, examined the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on vulnerable immigrants and the undocumented workers who pick and process the food we eat. From journalists Daffodil Altan and Andrés Cediel, this award-winning documentary investigated the invisible victims of the coronavirus pandemic, including crucial farm and meat-packing workers who lacked protections and were getting sick as the virus surged around the country.
• China Undercover delivered a FRONTLINE April 2020 undercover report from China’s secretive Xinjiang region. From filmmakers Robin Barnwell and Gesbeen Mohammad, the documentary investigated the Communist regime’s mass imprisonment of Muslims and its use and testing of sophisticated surveillance technology against the Uyghur community.
• Battle for Hong Kong, a FRONTLINE February 2020 documentary, followed five protesters through the most intense clashes over several months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. From filmmakers Robin Barnwell and Gesbeen Mohammad, the film examined the activists’ struggle against what they say is growing influence from the Communist government of mainland China.

“We are so pleased with this honor and to see such a diverse range of filmmakers recognized as finalists by the George Foster Peabody Awards this year,” says Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE’s executive producer. “These nominations are a testament to our journalists’ steadfast pursuit of truth and their commitment to telling stories that matter, even in the most challenging of times.”

Of the 60 nominations, the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors noted that PBS lead with 12 honors. As noted in the official nominations announcement, Peabody Awards nominees “represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and streaming media during 2020.”

Since 1940, the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards have honored excellence in broadcasting. The awards now recognize excellence in digital storytelling, as well. Read the full list of Peabody Awards nominees here.

You can watch this year’s Peabody Awards-nominated FRONTLINE documentaries in their entirety below:

Whose Vote Counts (Credits):

Policing the Police 2020 (Credits):

COVID’s Hidden Toll (Credits):

China Undercover (Credits):

Battle for Hong Kong (Credits):