Nine Peabody Awards for pubcasters

"Giant Pool of Money," the ground-breaking story on the sub-prime mortgage crisis that was jointly reported by NPR's Adam Davidson and This American Life's Alex Blumberg, is one of nine pubcasting recipients of 2008 Peabody Awards announced this morning. NPR won two additional Peabodys: one for its exclusive coverage of the earthquake that devastated China's Sichuan province last May and another for a three-part series by Laura Sullivan that questioned the guilt of two inmates in Louisiana's Angola prison. Six Peabody-winning programs were presented on PBS, which topped all other media organizations (including HBO) in collecting the most Peabody medals for programs aired in 2008. Independent Lens led pubTV's winners by earning medals for King Corn and a doc on stem cell research. Peabodys were also awarded to docs presented by Nova, P.O.V., and Twin Cities Public Television. Washington Week with Gwen Ifill earned recognition for a series of live events broadcast as part of its 2008 political coverage. Peabody Awards, presented to recognize distinguished achievements and meritorious public service, are among the top honors in electronic journalism.