ATLANTA — The Radio Television Digital News Association honored Channel 2 Action News with a prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award.
WSB-TV won the award of Best Newscast in electronic journalism for Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m. on March 31, 2017, the day after the I-85 bridge collapse.
[ [RELATED: WSB-TV honored with 8 Emmy awards] ]
The station spanned out its resources to uncover the details behind the cause of the fire and the bridge’s collapse, the immediate effect on everyone’s commute and the plan to rebuild and reopen this critical stretch of highway.
"The collapse of the I-85 bridge struck Atlanta like a heart attack,” said Misti Turnbull, News Director for Channel 2 Action News. “This award recognizes the full force of our team working tirelessly to turn around the details within 24 hours and capture the scope of the collapse and its impact on every day Atlanta for our viewers. It’s a very real sense of pride and purpose on every team member’s part to cover the big stories of Atlanta.”
Best Newscast was among four regional awards given to Channel 2 in April, all of which progressed to the national judging phase. The other three were in “Overall Excellence,” “Excellence in Video,” and “Sports Reporting.”
“I applaud the entire team here at Channel 2 WSB-TV for how it swarms all over breaking news, then turns on its investigative lens to uncover and unpack the details behind these big stories,” said Paul Briggs, Vice President of Content and Broadcast Operations for Cox Media Group Atlanta. “This was a defining moment for the city of Atlanta and for our news team. We are gratified to be recognized with such prestige by our peers in the industry.”
RTDNA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971.