Two TV stations — KXAS, the NBC O&O in Dallas-Ft. Worth, and KING, Tegna’s NBC affiliate in Seattle — were awarded Walter Cronkite Awards in 2023 from the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“At a time when journalists are fighting a tidal wave of disinformation and misinformation,” says Martin Kaplan, Director of the Norman Lear Center. “It’s incredibly heartening to honor these examples of superlative work by indefatigable TV reporters and producers from the national to the local level.”

KXAS (NBC 5) received its Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism in the Documentary Local category for its streaming series, Against All Enemies.

In Against All Enemies, NBC 5 Investigates explores how a group with ties to the Oath Keepers trains law enforcement officers to follow an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that some legal experts call false and dangerous.

The Against All Enemies series was the first report to shine light on the full scale of training sessions being held by the group tied to the Oath Keepers in Texas. Questions from NBC 5 Investigates triggered a state agency to open a new investigation into those trainings happening across the state.

Here’s what the judges had to say about Against All Enemies:

“After a former Oath Keeper infiltrated their official training program, Texas sheriffs were instructed that their power constitutionally exceeds the authority of the FBI and even the president. Judges called the investigation revealing this disinformation “quite alarming…. If they hadn’t uncovered it, it wouldn’t be known.” This “completely captivating” streaming series is “a standout” that “could go up against a network production” and shows the NBC-owned station’s “commitment to invest the resources to do a totally professional job.”

Chris Ingalls, a reporter at KING, was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award the Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking.

The Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking is named for the veteran journalist who covered Washington, D.C., and national politics for news organizations including the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and CNN. At CNN, he pioneered the “ad watch” and “fact check” form of stories debunking false and misleading political statements. In 2003, he co-founded FactCheck.org at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania with Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Jackson Prize entries are reviewed by a separate APPC jury.

In the series, Ingalls vetted claims of voter registration anomalies in three Washington counties made by the so-called Voter Integrity Project. His reports used public records requests, reporting and interviews to expose false and misleading claims about voter fraud.

“KING’s commitment is to inform and empower our community with the highest excellence of journalism,” says Julie Wolfe, news director at KING. “Chris Ingalls and the entire team of journalists at KING 5 work every day to lean into our responsibility to fight misinformation. We believe more informed people can make better decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. Congratulations to Chris and photojournalists Kellen Harrell and Eric Desrosiers for their tireless work is pursing the answers voters deserve.”

Here’s what the judges had to say about The Fraud Crusade:

“This year’s Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking goes to reporter Chris Ingalls and KING 5 News, an NBC affiliate owned by Tegna, for a five-part series that debunked a misinformation campaign that sought to undermine public trust in Washington state’s elections. Ingalls vetted claims of voter registration anomalies in three Washington counties made by the so-called Voter Integrity Project. His reports used public records requests, old-fashioned shoe leather reporting and effective interviews to expose false and misleading claims about voter fraud. Judges called his pieces “important, thoroughly researched, well produced, very informative.”

CLICK HERE to see all the 2023 Walter Cronkite Award winners.

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