"On the Media," public radio's weekly, hour-long media criticism show from WNYC and NPR, has been selected as the 2011 recipient of the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, presented annually by the College of Communications at Penn State.
The national award recognizes outstanding contributions to print and broadcast journalism through responsible analysis or critical evaluation.
This year's award honors work produced during the 2011 calendar year. It will be presented Thursday, May 24, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Two major pieces comprised the "On the Media" submission for co-hosts Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, who also serves as the show's managing editor.
One, titled "Psychic Tips, Media Frenzies and Texas," chronicled how an untrue report about a mass grave filled with dismembered body parts attracted global attention -- providing a lesson about how great technology and bad journalism make a terrible combination.
The other piece, "Does NPR Have a Liberal Bias?" allowed the show to look closely at NPR, during a year when a high-profile NPR commentator was dismissed, an activist conducted a "sting" during a lunch with public radio fundraisers and NPR's president stepped down.
According to the show's own entry letter: "Our series generated commentary across the political spectrum and across the media. Much of that reaction was surprise that an NPR-distributed program would unilaterally take this on during such a politically sensitive time. Of course, what other time is there?"
Judges for the award appreciated the timing of the work and also the quality. As a result, they were generous with their praise of "On the Media." The three judges were: Peter Bhatia, executive editor of The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.; Steve Geimann of Bloomberg News; and Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications at Elon University.
"The story about the bodies being found in Texas was a good example of contemporary reporting," Geimann said. "It showed just how vulnerable we are all when things are done poorly."
"They addressed how a falsehood can spread across the globe the way it does in a day, and they did it with good research," Parsons said. "I thought it was a fascinating story. And the topic about bias was treated in a more substantial manner, which was enjoyable and interesting."
Bhatia called the five segments addressing bias at NPR thoughtful and well-reasoned.
"They were serious about the issue, even though they infused some humor," Bhatia said. "They did what the best of media criticism does -- they took it apart and put it back together again. They came up with an answer that was not surprising, but was well-reasoned and well put together."
"On the Media" joined a list of recent Bart Richards Award recipients that includes: Jim Rainey of the Los Angeles Times, 2010; Columbia Journalism Review, 2009; Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2008; PBS "Frontline," 2007; and Byron Calame of The New York Times, 2006.
Since "On the Media" was re-launched by WNYC in 2001, it has been one of the fastest-growing NPR-distributed programs, now heard on more than 300 public radio station. It's audience has tripled in the past five years while the show has won Edward R. Murrow Awards for its feature reporting and investigative reporting, the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism, and a George Foster Peabody Award for its body of work.
Garfield, who earned his bachelor's degree in English from Penn State in 1977, became the first Penn Stater to earn the Bart Richards Award. Along with his work for "On the Media," he has serves as a columnist for Advertising Age since 1985. He is also a founding contributor to the Watchdog Blog of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He's been a contributing editor for the Washington Post Magazine, Civilization and the op-ed page of USA Today.
Garfield has also written for The New York Times, Playboy, The Guardian, Sports Illustrated and Wired, and has been employed variously by ABC, CBS and CNBC. As a lecturer, he has appeared in 36 countries on six continents, including such venues as the Kennedy Center, the U.S. Capitol, the Rainbow Room, the Smithsonian, Circus Circus casino, the Grande Ole Opry, Harvard University and a Thai Kickboxing ring in Cape Town, South Africa.
He has written five books, most recently "The Human Element" (2012). Others include: "The Chaos Scenario" (2009), about the collapse of mass media and advertising, and "Now a Few Words From Me" (2004), which has been published in six languages. He also wrote "Tag, You're It," a country song performed by Willie Nelson, and an episode of the short-lived NBC sitcom "Sweet Surrender."
Gladstone is the co-host and managing editor of "On the Media." After working in print media, she joined NPR in 1987 as senior editor of "Weekend Edition" with Scott Simon. She became senior editor of "All Things Considered" in 1989. In 1991, she spent a year at Stanford University as a Knight Fellow and then reported for NPR from Moscow during Boris Yeltsin's presidency from 1992 to 1995.
Gladstone served for six years as NPR's first media correspondent and then joined "On the Media" when WNYC relaunched the program in January 2001. She has been the recipient of two Peabody Awards, a National Press Club Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and several others. She also is the author of "The Influencing Machine" (2011).