On Assignment - From the duPont-Columbia Awards

On Assignment - From the duPont-Columbia Awards
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On Assignment - From the duPont-Columbia Awards

On Assignment brings you some of the best conversations from the Columbia Journalism School, produced and hosted by the school's Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. The duPont-Columbia Awards honor the best in audio-visual reporting across platforms including broadcast, documentary, local investigative, radio and interactive journalism. We started the On Assignment Podcast to go behind the scenes and bring you the conversations we were having with the leading journalists in the field, many of whom are also past duPont Award winners.

  1. OCT 4

    #94: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow & Dean Jelani Cobb on Covering American Politics

    “I don't want to have my chain yanked. I do not want to report on things in the news because a bad faith actor is driving me to do that. I do not play requests.’” – Rachel Maddow 2020 duPont-Columbia Award winner and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow talks to Dean Jelani Cobb about the urgency of reporting on the 2024 Presidential election. She also shares advice to young journalists and her take on the state of journalism in this unprecedented political season.

    52 min

  2. MAY 24

    #93 Correspondent Matt Gutman and His ABC News Producing Team on Tracking Trash

    “If we're not looking at these issues and understanding them for what they actually are - not just what we hope they are - I don't see much of a bright future, for my kids or anybody else's.” —Evan Simon, ABC News Producer Ever wonder if your plastic really gets recycled when you throw it in that bin? Lisa Cohen and Abi Wright speak to ABC News’ Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman, and his producing team to hear how they tracked their own plastic bags, with surprising results.

    33 min

  3. 12/01/2023

    #92 Revisiting HBO Real Sports’ David Scott as an Era Comes to an End

    “We have all these new media forms. But we haven't really found one that does what the old school news magazine still do well, which is sit across from someone and look them in the eye and turn TV into a lie detector.“ --HBO Real Sports’ Correspondent David Scott Multiple duPont Award-winning journalist David Scott invited Prizes’ Executive Director Abi Wright and duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen to his HBO Real Sports office back in 2018, following their win for a special investigative hour on the Olympics. We’re revisiting this interview to commemorate the end of an era. For 29 seasons Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has looked at sports from the complex lens of power, culture, and human rights. This month marks its last episode. In the 2018 episode Scott goes behind the scenes of some of his celebrated reporting - in “The Lords of the Rings,” and his duPont winning coverage of controversies around China’s Olympic games, and in a harrowing trip to Chechnya to interview its repressive leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Scott offers practical tips on how to take on powerful subjects, how to safeguard your footage in dangerous locations and how to evade government “minders” seeking to keep reporters away from the real story. Watch “The Strongman” David Scott’s report on Chechnyan MMA fighters and leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Watch the last episode of HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on December 19.

    37 min

  4. 11/03/2023

    #91 “The Janes” Doc Directors on Its Relevance Today

    “These were just ordinary women turned outlaws.” - Director Tia Lessin Directors of the 2023 DuPont award-winning film ‘The Janes’, Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin join journalist and J School Adjunct Professor Jessica Bruder for a lively conversation about their film that deep dives into an historic underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions, in the 60s and 70s.

    35 min

  5. 10/06/2023

    #90 CNN's Jake Tapper with Dean Jelani Cobb

    “The incentive structures in the worlds of politics and news media… are geared towards division and not just division, but demonizing people. And it's very dangerous. It has already resulted in loss of life." -CNN’s Jake Tapper Jake Tapper is the CNN Chief Washington Correspondent, anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper, and co-host of the Sunday morning public affairs program State of the Union. In 2023, he was part of the team that won a duPont-Columbia award for their coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. He also hosted the awards at Columbia University in 2018. In this episode, Tapper sits down with Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to discuss the extraordinary state of American politics how journalists should report on figures like Trump.

    48 min

  6. 09/01/2023

    #89: The New Yorker's Masha Gessen with Dean Jelani Cobb

    #89: The New Yorker's Masha Gessen with Dean Jelani Cobb by On Assignment - From the duPont-Columbia Awards

    45 min

  7. 07/07/2023

    #88: “Leave No Trace” Director Irene Taylor on the Boy Scouts’ Hidden History

    “I respect the Boy Scouts. I respect what they were founded on. But there was a really dark side and no one was talking about it.” –"Leave No Trace" Director Irene Taylor “Leave No Trace” is a 2023 duPont-Columbia Award winning documentary that exposes the stunning history of sexual abuse faced by over 80,000 young men and its subsequent cover up by The Boy Scouts of America. The film highlights the voices of six men and boys, who bravely share their stories, and hold power to account. Director, Irene Taylor, talks about the relentless way her team took on an “All-American” institution and the sensitive way they approached its survivors.

    32 min
  8. #87: "Stolen's" Connie Walker on Her Personal Story with a Nationwide Reach

    06/01/2023

    #87: "Stolen's" Connie Walker on Her Personal Story with a Nationwide Reach

    “We all understand just how easily history is forgotten. And this history is being actively destroyed.” –Podcast Host Connie Walker “Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s” is a 2023 duPont-winning series that uncovers the horrific abuse many young indigenous children–including the reporter’s own family–faced at a Canadian residential school. Host and investigative journalist Connie Walker talks about the ethics of making public long buried stories of sexual abuse, highlighting indigenous voices and her own personal stake in this impactful podcast.

    28 min
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About

On Assignment brings you some of the best conversations from the Columbia Journalism School, produced and hosted by the school's Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. The duPont-Columbia Awards honor the best in audio-visual reporting across platforms including broadcast, documentary, local investigative, radio and interactive journalism. We started the On Assignment Podcast to go behind the scenes and bring you the conversations we were having with the leading journalists in the field, many of whom are also past duPont Award winners.

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