🏆 Recognizing #StoriesThatMatter. Never miss a newsletter! Sign up and have #PeabodyFinds delivered to your inbox.
Whether they’re facing down white supremacists or something called “zombie wells,” local reporters keep tabs on things that most of us would run the other way from. Here, some of the best recent Peabody-recognized works with local impact.
‘Breakdown in Maine’
For Frontline, the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public teamed up to produce this 54-minute documentary about the state’s deadliest mass shooting and the ways it could have been prevented. Law enforcement, military, and mental health systems, they found, all broke down in ways that led to the October 2023 Lewiston shooting spree that killed 18 people and wounded 13 others. The shooter, Robert Russell Card II, was a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant first class who had suffered mental health problems, hearing loss, and traumatic brain injury, likely caused by his eight years as a grenade instructor—with many red flags along the way that could have led someone to stop this tragedy.
Where to Watch: PBS.org
NewsChannel 5 Nashville’s legendary Phil Williams continued his multi-year dogged investigation into the local rise of white supremacy throughout 2024—and, in fact, continues to uncover more to this day, including a Neo-Nazi targeting children online and a far-right pastor ordering the removal of “hate has no home here” signs. His work carefully arrays evidence of these local hate groups and shares his confrontations with the perpetrators, demonstrating why he’s a multiple Peabody winner.
Where to Watch: NewsChannel5.com
‘Driven to Death’
NBC’s Dallas affiliate uncovers what’s behind the city’s highest-in-the-nation number of traffic deaths. The team spent more than a year poring over the statistics and the specifics behind them, from diminishing enforcement of speed limits to the apparent dangers of a specific road. Their work resulted in new safety measures and lower posted speed limits.
Where to Watch: NBCDFW.com
ABC15 Arizona won a Peabody for its series showing how 2020 Black Lives Matter protesters were brutalized by police and over-prosecuted on trumped-up charges afterwards, resulting in a three-year U.S. Department of Justice investigation. Last year, the station devoted similar airtime and resources to examining the results of that report via a 32-part series and an online page-by-page analysis of all 128 pages. The package helped to underline the extent of the abuse and ensure that the community did not lose sight of the ongoing problem.
Where to Watch: ABC15.com
Zombie Wells, a 23-minute documentary from ABC News, dove into the threats posed by abandoned gas and oil wells, with particularly dire implications for the communities that house them. The investigation focused on individuals like a rancher in West Texas who discovered more than 30 leaking old wells on her property, and also showed the areas across the nation threatened by this phenomenon, largely concentrated in Great Plains states. The piece is the result of a partnership between national ABC News and six affiliates, KABC (Los Angeles), KAKE (Kansas), KFSN (Central California), KMGH (Denver), KTRK (Houston), and WRTV (Indianapolis), highlighting the local effects.
Where to Watch: YouTube
Phil Williams’ Peabody Acceptance for ‘Confronting Hate’
“From where I stand this project may be the most important of my career,” Williams said. “It began with the involvement of white supremacists in a local election, and it really opened our eyes to the rise of political extremism and hate in other communities.”