Peabody Award

WEBSITES, basic cable channels and international productions were among the winners announced Wednesday of the 66th annual Peabody Awards for excellence in electronic media -- a move that signaled the field's increasing diversity beyond traditional television and radio programs. First-time winners for 2006 included Cartoon Network (for an episode of "Boondocks" that imagined Martin Luther King Jr.'

THREE Los Angeles television stations were among the winners announced Wednesday of the 65th annual Peabody Awards for excellence in TV and radio programming -- an eclectic list that also included Hurricane Katrina news coverage, the irreverent comedy "South Park" and the sci-fi drama "Battlestar Galactica." The winners for 2005 were announced by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The awards will be presented June 5 in New York City.

NBC's "Saturday Night Live," ABC's "Lost," and the video-sharing website YouTube were among the eclectic list of winners announced Wednesday at the 68th annual Peabody Awards, which honors distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by media organizations and individuals. The list's diversity, which also included several HBO projects, CNN's coverage of the presidential primaries and AMC's "Breaking Bad," about a desperate man dealing meth, was further evidence of the awards' reach beyond traditional television and media.

Harvey Frand, 68, an Emmy Award-winning producer of the science-fiction series "Battlestar Galactica," died July 23 in Los Angeles after a brief hospitalization for respiratory problems. As one of the producers of "Battlestar Galactica," which ended its four-season run on the Sci Fi Channel (now called Syfy) in March, Frand shared two AFI Awards, an Emmy and a Peabody Award. He recently was nominated for a second Emmy. Among Frand's credits as a producer are "The Lazarus Man," "The Pretender" and the 1980s version of "The Twilight Zone."

CBS News won a Peabody Award on Thursday for its report on abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a story anchored by Dan Rather and produced by Mary Mapes, who was later fired by CBS for her role in the story about President Bush's military service. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart won his second Peabody Award, for his satiric take on the 2004 election campaign, while HBO's Western "Deadwood" also won.

Boston's WGBH-TV won three Peabody awards Wednesday, NBC News received a Peabody for a Tom Brokaw piece on the University of Michigan and its affirmative action policy, and CBS News was cited for a "60 Minutes" report on abuses of power by government and military contractors. The Peabodys recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The winners were announced Wednesday in Atlanta.

Marjorie "Mickie" Silverstein, 72, an author, lecturer, and radio and television personality who won a Peabody Award in 1970 for radio-news investigative reporting, died March 15 in Los Angeles of complications from hepatitis. Teaming up with friend Teddi Levison in the 1960s, Silverstein became a radio reporter at WRNG in Atlanta, where they won the Peabody for a half-hour documentary on strong-armed police tactics against blacks and hippies.

Three HBO programs, two editions of ABC News' "Nightline" and eight PBS programs are among the shows singled out for the 2002 George Foster Peabody Awards, which honor excellence in radio and television. In all, 31 programs, four of them related to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, were cited for recognition in the 62nd year of the awards, which will be handed out May 19. The New York ceremony will be televised nationally for the first time, on cable's A&E.

Two controversial ABC series--"Ellen" and "Nothing Sacred"--were among the 34 winners announced Thursday for the 57th annual George Foster Peabody Awards saluting excellence in television and radio programming. Also honored were the CBS news programs "60 Minutes" and "Sunday Morning," the HBO movie "Don King: Only in America," the TNT movie "George Wallace," the PBS children's series "Wishbone" and, for the third time, the NBC police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street."

The public airwaves too often serve only private financial interests. So how refreshing when a local station generates stunning home-grown television in addition to profits. That's what Seattle's KOMO-TV did on several occasions in 1996. Its trio of "Earth Agenda" documentaries--each celebrating and reporting concerns about wildlife from the Pacific Northwest--this week won a Peabody Award, one of the most coveted honors in broadcasting.