The George Foster Peabody Award recognizes the most outstanding achievements in electronic media, including radio, television and cable. Past recipients include Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Bill Moyers, Rod Serling, Ed Sullivan, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Bob and Ray, Captain Kangaroo, and of course, The Daily Show.
The Peabody Award is the oldest award for electronic media. It is probably the most selective and prestigious as well. Each year, from more than one thousand entries, the Peabody Board selects the most outstanding works by unanimous vote.
Sometimes the award is given for actions that go on behind the camera. In 1950 it was awarded to
ABC, Its President, Robert E. Kintner, and his associates, Robert Saudek and Joseph McDonald for Their Courageous Stand in Resisting Organized Pressures and Their Reaffirmation of Basic American Principles.
That award was given for civic action. It is in that spirit I think we should nominate Jon Stewart and The Daily Show for their final broadcast of the 2010 season that focused on the James Zadroga Act.
At a time when radio stations and networks were either firing or refusing to hire writers and actors on the basis of the unsupported innuendoes contained in a publication known as "Red Channels," Robert Kintner, president of ABC, and his associates, Robert Saudek and Joseph A. McDonald, refused to be stampeded into either action.
At the dawn of the McCarthy Era, this sort of behavior was way ahead of its time and served as an example of civic action for others to emulate.
For being a leader and serving as an example of civic action, Jon Stewart's broadcast from December 16, 2010 deserves special recognition. When all other media were silent about the Republican-led effort to block a vote in the Senate that would provide lead to a bill providing health-care to 9/11 first responders, Jon Stewart dedicated his final broadcast of the season almost exclusively to this issue. He did more than highlight the plight of these men and women. He castigated the American media for its silence.
Following that broadcast, the show was replayed across the Internet on sites like Huffington Post and Daily Kos. Previously mute broadcasters began chiming in, explicitly citing Stewart's broadcast as the reason for their taking a position. ABC "World News" soon joined the call for action on this bill in support of the sick and dying 9/11 first responders. Cable outlets as diverse as Shep Smith's "Studio B" on FOX News and Rachel Maddow's "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC added their voices to the mix.
The impact spread out from the electronic media to print media. The impact of Stewart's broadcast prompted Time Magazine to run an article that week, titled, Did Jon Stewart Turn The Tide on the 9/11 First Responders Bill?.
Even the White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, acknowledged the powerful role Jon Stewart's broadcast played in raising public awareness around the Zadroga Bill. The magnitude of Stewart's impact can best be demonstrated by the fact that Republican commentator's like Mike Huckabee, and Joe Scarborough soon joined the call for action, after previously staying silent. Even a highly partisan show, FOX and Friends specifically chastised individual Republican senators by name for preventing this bill from coming to a vote.
Prior to his broadcast, Republican Senators like John Kyl and Tom Coburn (R-OK) had declared they would block this bill. In the face of the public outrage sparked by Stewart's broadcast, those threats melted like dew. On December 22, 2010, The Senate passed The 9/11 Health Act by a UNANIMOUS vote.
The bill, also known as the Zadroga Act in honor of 9/11 first responder James Zadroga, who died in 2006 of a respiratory illness he contracted after working at Ground Zero, will provide billions of dollars in much needed health care assistance to men and women who are dying. Without Stewart's call to action, it is entirely possible bill would never have made it to the floor for a vote.
For his public service, it seems appropriate that Jon Stewart and The Daily Show deserve to be considered for a 2010 Peabody Award.
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Entries may be submitted by any person or organization wishing to direct the attention of the Peabody Board to a meritorious program, series, individual or organization
In submitting this entry for consideration, I would like to enlist everyone's support. Instead of writing thousands of letters to Horace Newcomb, the director of the Peabody Awards Program, I think a single email citing this entry and the attached comments in support would be sufficient to generate serious consideration. If you support this submission, please recommend the diary and then submit a comment in support. Feel free to add any additional comments you believe would strengthen this submission.
Work submitted for consideration as worthy of the Peabody Award may be submitted in a number of categories. However, one category is clearly most appropriate for this piece of work. Public Service
Public Service One-time or continuing projects using a single medium or a variety of means to respond to an important public problem or issue. Evidence of results should be provided.
Please act now as the deadline for this year's submissions closes on January 14th.