GMA Network receives prestigious Peabody Award for Yolanda coverage

Published May 20, 2014 10:00am

(Updated 12:05 p.m.) GMA Network on Monday formally received the prestigious Peabody Award in New York City for its in-depth coverage of the impact of super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November 2013.

GMA News and Public Affairs Senior Vice President Marissa L. Flores received the Peabody Award on behalf of the network at a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were Vice President for News Programs Jessica A. Soho and news anchor/reporter Jiggy Manicad, who represented the GMA News teams that covered Yolanda, according to a report on GMA News' Unang Balita.

"This is for the survivors, the Filipinos and our unsinkable spirit. Philippines, Mabuhay!" Flores said after accepting the award.

"Receiving this award is bittersweet for us at GMA Network because it is on the account of the suffering of Filipinos from Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda, the strongest typhoon to have made landfall," she added.

She said the network accepted the award "with immense gratitude," on behalf of the people of GMA News and Public Affairs, who she said "risked their lives to tell the story."

Flores also thanked the Peabody for "honoring and inspiring" GMA Network for the fourth time.

The Peabody Award is considered the television equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize for print media, and the Oscar Awards for film.

Yolanda left 6,293 people dead, 28,669 injured and 1,061 still missing, based on figures from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as of April 3.

The NDRRMC also said Yolanda damaged P39,821,497,852.17 worth of crops and property, including P19,559,379,136.11 in infrastructure and P20,262,118,716.06 in agriculture.

Other personalities who attended the Peabody awarding ceremony on Monday included NBC anchor and special correspondent Tom Brokaw, and CNN "Parts Unknown" host Anthony Bourdain.

‘Daunting logistical challenges’

In an article on its website, the Peabody Awards cited GMA Network for its extensive and unrelenting coverage of the effects as well as the aftermath of Yolanda.

"Faced with daunting logistical challenges and sharing in the national shock and grief, GMA reporters and crews from State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, 24 Oras (24 Hours), Saksi (Eyewitness), 24 Oras Weekend and Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho (One at Heart, Jessica Soho) provided desperately needed spot news coverage and information, gaining strength and perspective as they worked. They followed up with solid reporting and public-service broadcasts about the aftermath, heroic acts and relief efforts. The coverage includes footage of storm-surge rapids ripping through streets and apocalyptic winds decapitating houses that’s so close-up and intense that it’s a wonder the videographers survived," it said.

"For overcoming the challenges posed by a historic storm to provide coverage that was thorough, candid and compassionate, a Peabody Award goes to GMA Network’s coverage of SuperTyphoon Yolanda," it added.

‘In harm's way’

Dr. Jeffrey P. Jones, director of the George Foster Peabody Award, said the extraordinary Yolanda event "was covered with such care but also a great risk."

He said: "I think the Peabody board was amazed that the reporters really almost had no concern for their own safety that they were out to get the story and that’s a very old journalistic ordeal to sacrifice oneself and as the horrible storm is happening. Your reporters put themselves in harm's way and that’s an important role for journalists to always put in any society and we just thought it’s an ordinary coverage of an extraordinary event."

Jones added they went over "a lot of entries from the typhoon and it's one of the things where it made more sense to put it together and say that all of these coverage was fantastic. We, I will say very much that the Peabody board was expecting the works coming out from the Philippines even in a non-news round so keep it coming and doing good work."

Manicad said the award is not only GMA's; it is also a way to honor the victims of Yolanda.

"Para sa atin sa GMA News and Public Affairs na lahat na nag-cover dito sa Yolanda, isa na po ito sa mga pinakamahirap na coverage na naranasan namin. Hindi lang ito parangal kundi isang pag-alaala at alay na rin sa mga naging biktima ng Yolanda," he said.

The awards are administered by the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Winning requires a unanimous vote from the 16-member board.

GMA is the only news and public affairs organization in the Philippines to have received this prestigious award for excellence in broadcast journalism.

Its first triumph was in 1999 for its body of work made up of the i-Witness episodes, "Kidneys for Sale" and "Kamao" (Fist), both reported by Jessica Soho, and the Brigada Siete report on child labor by Jay Taruc.

GMA's second victory was in 2010 with another i-Witness story, "Ambulansya de Paa" (Ambulance by Foot), that had Kara David as reporter.

Three years later, GMA News TV's Reel Time was honored for its "Salat" (Touch) episode. —Joel Locsin/KG, GMA News

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