Desperate Journey

From June 2015, when the United Nations reported that the number of refugees and displaced persons globally had surpassed 50 million for the first time since World War II, through the end of the year, PBS NewsHour was the most impressive U.S. source of news and analysis about the crisis. Beginning with stunning images of Afghan and Syrian refugees arriving at the Greek island of Lesbos on crowded rubber rafts, NewsHour presented a stream of powerful reports under the banner Desperate Journey. The seasoned news instincts of special correspondent Malcolm Brabant, a former BBC bureau chief, kept him alert to all manner of stories, from the refugees’ courage to the islanders’ hospitality – all the more humbling given Greece’s financial condition – to concerns about Islamic terrorists hiding in the refugees’ midst. As the migration continued and grew, Brabant and other NewsHour journalists, notably William Brangham and Jane Arraf, reported on conditions in camps in Jordan, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries that were exacerbating the flight to Europe. They also examined the differing strategies in Europe for absorbing the waves of humanity, including Hungary’s harsh “Iron Curtain” approach. For coverage of the European refugee crisis that was broad, deep and thoroughly personalized, Desperate Journey wins a Peabody Award.