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Two Knoxville media outlets have received national acclaim for their news coverage with 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award wins.

Radio station WUOT, 91.9 FM was the national small market radio winner in the category of “Best Writing” for a compilation of three 2008 feature stories written by WUOT news director Matt Shafer Powell. The pieces were: “In the Space of a Moment,” “Cicadian Rhythms” and “My Life. My Vote. (Sarah Moore Greene).”

Television network and local ABC affiliate WATE, Channel 6 won the national small market television award for “Breaking News Coverage” for the station’s coverage of the Aug. 21, 2008, fatal shooting of student Ryan McDonald at Central High School.

Regina Dean, director of WUOT-FM, credits Powell’s strong storytelling skills for the win.

“We take our medium very seriously, but the art of storytelling in journalism is something that ... Matt just has a talent for, being able to recognize and produce compelling stories, and we’re really proud of that.

“We’re relatively new to the news game. We’ve had a little bit of local news and public affairs off and on throughout our history, but we really just began in earnest to have a local news presence when I hired Matt (in 2002). ... We’re excited to be recognized nationally.”

Also, Dean said the timing couldn’t be better for the award as WUOT marks its 60th anniversary this year.

Jamie Foster, news director for WATE, said teamwork helped the newroom staff pull together its winning entry.

“This was a big tragedy for our community ... and we’re obviously not happy about the event that happened, but at the same time, when events like this happen, it’s our job to inform the public as best we can, and I just feel like all the people of our newsroom did a really good job. Everyone pitched in to help out any way they could.

“Typically, we don’t have a noon newscast, but we produced a noon special that day focusing solely on this event, and I felt like everyone stepped up and did a really great job.”

To hear and view all winning entries, visit http://rtnda.org.

Chosen each year by the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards honor excellence in electronic journalism.

Murrow was a pioneer in radio and television broadcasting, perhaps best known for taking on Sen. Edward McCarthy on Murrow’s 1950s television news show “See It Now.” His famous fight against McCarthyism was portrayed in the 2005 movie “Good Night, and Good Luck,” starring David Strathairn and George Clooney.

Lori Wilson is the assistant features and entertainment editor. She may be reached at 865-342-6449.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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