FRONTLINE Wins Two 2020 duPont-Columbia Awards

Columbia University’s Journalism School announced today that two FRONTLINE multi-part documentaries — Documenting Hate and The Facebook Dilemma —have been honored with 2020 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards for excellence in journalism.

In the official release from the duPonts awards, the judges acknowledged these two FRONTLINE investigations for offering “deep dives into growing threats today.”

FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s two-part investigative series Documenting Hate examined the resurgence of violent white supremacist groups in America. Written and directed by Rick Rowley and produced by A.C. Thompson and Karim Hajj, part one, Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, investigates the white supremacists and neo-Nazis involved in the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, revealing how ill-prepared law enforcement was to handle the influx of hate groups from across the nation. Part two of the series, Documenting Hate: New American Nazis, exposes a neo-Nazi group that has actively recruited inside the U.S. military.

The Facebook Dilemma, a two-part series from producers James Jacoby and Anya Bourg, was recognized for investigating a series of warnings to Facebook as the company grew from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room to a global empire. With dozens of original interviews and rare footage, the October 2018 two-part special examines the powerful social media platform’s impact on privacy and democracy in the U.S. and around the world.

“We are honored that the duPonts have chosen to recognize both our two-part series in collaboration with ProPublica Documenting Hate, and our two-part series The Facebook Dilemma with these awards,” said Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of FRONTLINE. “At FRONTLINE, we are committed to shining a light on critical stories — like the resurgence of white supremacist groups in America and Facebook’s impact on privacy and democracy around the world. We’re grateful to the duPont awards for acknowledging our investigative reporting in this way, and thankful to our viewers, our funders — especially PBS and CPB — and to WGBH, for supporting FRONTLINE’s journalism.”

“We’re humbled by the recognition and thankful to our entire team,” said Thompson. “We’re also saddened by the fact that since our films came out, this nation has experienced more deadly white supremacist terror attacks.”

“It’s an honor to be recognized among such a talented group of journalists, whose work upholds the highest standards of journalism at a time when our information ecosystem is polluted with misinformation,” said Jacoby and Bourg. “We’d like to thank the duPont Columbia jurors, our teammates at FRONTLINE and PBS, and the sources who shared their experiences in this film.”

FRONTLINE has earned 4 duPont Columbia Gold Batons and, including this year’s win, 33 Silver Batons. Of the 16 duPont-Columbia award-winners announced today, eight Silver Batons were given to public media outlets, and six were given to PBS programs.

The 2020 duPont-Columbia recipients will be honored on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 in New York City. The awards’ ceremony will be hosted by CNN and PBS’s Christiane Amanpour and The New York Times The Daily’s Michael Barbaro.

Watch FRONTLINE’s award-winning programs, Documenting Hate and The Facebook Dilemma below:

Documenting Hate: Charlottesville (Credits); Documenting Hate: New American Nazis (Credits)

The Facebook Dilemma – Part One:

(Credits)

The Facebook Dilemma – Part Two: