The Best Stories of 2018

Career Achievement Award: Rita Moreno

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors have selected Rita Moreno as the recipient of the Peabody Career Achievement Award, presented by Mercedes-Benz. The honor is reserved for individuals whose work and commitment to electronic media has left an indelible mark on the field.

Catalyst Award: ProPublica

The Peabody Board of Jurors unanimously chose to highlight ProPublica for the first-ever Peabody Catalyst Award for a story that brought immediate change to a controversial government practice of family separation at the border. The independent, nonprofit newsroom made headlines in June 2018 for publishing nearly 8 minutes of audio of 10 sobbing Central American children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The raw wailing and breathless sobs that went unheeded—and mocked—by Border Patrol officers demanded immediate attention and got it. Within 48-hours of publication, the Trump administration retreated, halting its “zero tolerance” immigration policy practice of family separation.

Institutional Award: Kartemquin Films

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors named Kartemquin Films winner of an Institutional Award for its commitment to unflinching documentary filmmaking and telling an American history rooted in social justice and the stories of the marginalized. Founded in 1966 in Chicago as a nonprofit collective, Kartemquin has served as a home for filmmakers to develop their craft and produce films that promote dialogue and democracy.

Institutional Award: Sesame Street

The Peabody Board of Jurors named “Sesame Street” winner of an Institutional Award for 50 years of educating and entertaining children in the U.S. and around the world. Conceived by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, “Sesame Street” premiered in 1969 with wide-eyed optimism and determination to make a difference. Structured on the belief that a children’s TV show could help close an achievement gap in preparation for school, while also teaching about the values of diversity, mutual respect, and empathy, it remains one of the 1960s greatest offerings.

A Dangerous Son

A view into the myriad challenges parents face when raising children with mental health issues, the film shines a light on the link between mental illness and recent mass school shootings.

Anatomy of a Killing

A masterful example of using open source technology and meticulous reporting, BBC Africa Eye collaborated with Amnesty International, the Bellingcat network, and independent analysts on Twitter to source a viral video of two women and their two young children being murdered by men in military fatigues. Despite government claims that the video was “fake news,” painstaking analysis showed the men to be Cameroonian army soldiers, who were eventually arrested and held accountable for the atrocity.

Back of the Class

Reporters Susannah Frame and Taylor Mirfendereski reveal the stunning failures of Washington public schools to provide support and services for students with disabilities. The only state with a fixed cap on special education funding, Washington faces an education crisis in special education classroom inclusion and graduation rates. The result is impressive journalism that led the Washington state legislature to prioritize education for all children.

Barry

“Saturday Night Live” alum Bill Hader has built a dark comedy off the unlikely premise of a hitman who really wants to be an actor and earnestly pursues his dream under the guidance of his has-been acting teacher played by Henry Winkler. Even as one of the quirkiest and entertaining series on TV, “Barry” asks serious questions about emotional connection, the nature of violence, and the cost of doing whatever it takes to keep a secret.

Believed

A searing account of how Larry Nassar got away with abusing hundreds of women and girls for more than two decades, this podcast is also an amazing exploration of the cultures that enabled this abuse. Reporters Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith peel away the successive layers of the case, starting with Nassar’s veneer of being a “good guy” to the many institutions that failed the survivors. Using numerous interviews and primary source materials, they carefully piece together the survivors’ collective story while zeroing in on key issues the story brings to light. The result is a laudable balance between revealing the victimization perpetrated by Nassar with a determination to give the survivors agency, strength, and a right to tell their stories.

Buried Truths

Journalist Hank Klibanoff and his Emory University students investigate the death of Isaiah Nixon, a black man gunned down outside his South Georgia home in 1948 for exercising his right to vote. With intensive research of FBI documents, microfilm of archival newspapers, medical records, NAACP reports, and primary evidence held in private collections, the podcast has the appeal of the “true crime” genre but constantly strives for deeper historical understanding. The largely forgotten incident gains new immediacy when read alongside Georgia’s more recent struggles over voter suppression, helping us understand how the past touches the present.

Cambridge Analytica

In coordination with The Guardian and The New York Times, Channel 4’s exposé shows the vulnerability of personal data to harvesting and misuse. A political consulting firm that mined millions of Facebook users’ profiles for data, Cambridge Analytica’s clients included Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Brexit. Leveraging information from a whistleblower and a secret recording of CEO Alexander Nix admitting the firm used espionage and entrapment to destroy political opponents, the impact of the reporting was immediate. Facebook lost more than $100 billion in share price and Cambridge Analytica closed operations soon thereafter.

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

Comedian Hannah Gadsby makes a major statement about the social costs of laughing at someone, and about what it means to be the brunt of a joke. She brilliantly finds the tragedy in comedy, in the process breaking apart and reconstructing the standup comedy special format. Throughout, she delivers the thunderous message of the destructive power of heteronormativity, toxic masculinity and male sexual violence, and how easily society tolerates each.

Independent Lens: Dolores

An exhilarating portrait of activist and community organizer Dolores Huerta that serves as a timely reminder of the power of collective action in service of social justice.

Independent Lens: The Judge

Filmmaker Erika Cohn chronicles the day-to-day challenges of the Middle East’s first female Sharia law judge, Kholoud Faqih, offering a rare glimpse into an oft-misunderstood culture and faith through the eyes of a strong Muslim woman, and demystifying fallacies around both subjects.

Kept Out

Although some might assume redlining—the practice of discouraging non-white people from living in certain neighborhoods by manipulating rentals and homebuying—a thing of the past, this report found people of color are still far more likely than whites to see mortgage applications denied in 61 metro areas across the country. The review of 31 million records also unearthed redlining in ethnically and racially diverse areas. The series prompted investigations in several states, inspired the establishment of a $100 million affordable housing fund in Philadelphia, and forced banks to open branches in underserved areas.

Killing Eve

The tense cat-and-mouse spy thriller—serving as a vehicle for amazing performances by Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer—is also a masterful, playful recalibration of the genre, creating room not just for two women at the helm, but also for women’s interests and circumstances in almost every inch of the plot. Like its psychopathic assassin, Villanelle, it is equal parts terrifying, hilarious, slick, playful, and surprisingly soulful.

Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart

A tribute to Lorraine Hansberry’s life and career as an essayist, journalist and playwright, and fearless advocate for social justice, the film mines her rich archive of writing, diaries, letters, and personal effects, resulting in an intimate and powerful portrait of an innovative artist and radical activist.

Minding the Gap

Through a patient, observational lens and devastating interviews, filmmaker Bing Liu lays bare the pain and eventual hope he and his skateboarding friends endure despite the challenges they face in this heartfelt presentation of the transition from boyhood to manhood.

Monumental Lies

Exploring the contested history surrounding monuments in the South and the Southwest, this nuanced report adds depth to current debates about how the public should mark troubling chapters of our national history. The investigative teams explore how “Lost Cause ideology” often substitutes for historical accuracy by sending black and white reporters, individually, into Beauvoir, a Mississippi site dedicated to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Listeners hear what “truths” each get told. The series also addresses how monuments to racist pasts is a national, rather than regional problem, as Southwestern states memorialize moments of settlement and colonization.

Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj

Hasan Minhaj has created the perfect model for engaging his fellow millennials in contemporary politics and public life. With his trademark high-octane energy, the first Indian-American and Muslim late-night host brings a welcome voice to political entertainment television. He’s also bold and fearless, taking on the ruthless Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman just weeks after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pose

Set in 1980s New York, “Pose” follows the ongoing rivalry between the established House of Abundance and the upstart House of Evangelista in an honest telling of trans and gay people of color at a critical time in history. Presided over by Billy Porter’s Pray Tell, the competition and its delicious melodrama serves as backdrop for the burgeoning LGBTQ community and family, doing important representational work and storytelling both on and off the ballroom floor.

POV: The Apology

Writer/director Tiffany Hsiung follows the personal journeys of three surviving “comfort women,” forced into institutionalized sexual slavery during World War II, as they seize this last chance to set future generations on a course for reconciliation, healing, and justice.

Random Acts of Flyness

Breaking the mold of what we think television is and can be, “Random Acts of Flyness” ponders what it means to be young and black in America and produces a layered, complex experience of wonder, joy, and insight. The series brilliantly assembles black sonic, visual, and literary worlds into a 21st century cut ‘n’ mix of black aesthetic of absurdity, critique, affirmation, and fun. Most importantly, it does so without a preoccupation with white gaze or desire, centering blackness as a complex, productive historical fact and contemporary lived experience rather than a phobic-obsessed reaction to whiteness.

Separated: Children at the Border

In response to the U.S. government’s decision to separate migrant children from their parents in processing centers, FRONTLINE shows characteristic attention to broader contexts undergirding the policy and its enactment. “Separated: Children at the Border” explores the roots of the policy in El Paso, Texas, 12 months prior to it making headlines, and draws a line from Obama-era practice and infrastructure to current policy. From Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border to Washington, the report and its makers commendably show as much care and attention to the humans and traumas of the story as to its politics and rhetoric.

Spartan Silence: Crisis at Michigan State

A precise demonstration of how rape culture works systemically, and the traumatic and horrible costs it has on women’s lives. Through tough original reporting, the series digs deep into Michigan State’s institutional knowledge of Larry Nassar’s abuse of hundreds of gymnasts and athletes dating back almost two decades. For the first time on camera, the programs provide testimony by a former sexual assault counselor who recounts the rape culture machinery at work—insulated internal handling of cases, lack of transparency, and discouraging victims from seeking external resources. The reporting includes powerful testimony by many abuse survivors, culminating in a roundtable discussion with five former athletes, and more than 140 “sister survivors” walking onstage to accept the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2018 ESPYS.

Steven Universe

On its surface, Rebecca Sugar’s animated series develops a complex mythology centering around the Crystal Gems—“polymorphic sentient rocks” who protect young Steven and his human friends from cosmic threats. But in this earnest fantasy epic and superhero saga, empathy is perhaps the most important superpower, something our real-world human society needs now more than ever.

The Americans

If a great drama series is judged—at least, in part—by the way its story ends, then “The Americans” can easily be counted among the best TV shows in history. Over six seasons, the 1980s-set thriller centered on two Soviet spies deeply undercover as middle-class American parents in a Virginia suburb. In 2018, creators brought the acclaimed story to a masterful conclusion, forcing spies Elizabeth and Philip Jennings to make impo