Atlanta, July 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Society of Professional Journalists has awarded InvestigateTV, Gray Media’s (“Gray”) (NYSE: GTN) national investigative team and WVUE, Gray’s FOX affiliated television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, with three prestigious 2023 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to the free flow of information and protecting free speech.  

InvestigateTV won the Public Service in Television Journalism in the Network category for “Railroaded,” a months-long investigative series in partnership with ProPublica that exposed the dangers posed by idling trains at railroad crossings in communities across the United States. The judges explained, “what seems at first like merely an annoyance is shown to delay first responders and force children to climb under and over trains just to get to school.”

WVUE won two awards. The first for Breaking News Coverage in all markets. WVUE was the first to alert viewers to a massive fire at the Marathon Petroleum Refinery that forced schools, residents, and a nursing home to evacuate. One judge remarked that “WVUE had strong on-the-scene coverage with striking visuals, yes, but the outstanding aspect is the pursuit of why officials did not alert some people and were unresponsive to inquiries.”

WVUE also won Investigative Reporting for “Outside the Office.” The team spent months reviewing more than one thousand hours of public security camera video and analyzed thousands of pages of public records uncovering potential payout fraud, as well as a potentially improper relationship that broke city policies. The investigation led to three separate investigations by the New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans Inspector General, and the FBI. The judges noted “the word doggedness isn’t used often but it’s certainly appropriate here with an investigative execution and commitment that should be an example in any sized market.”

“Investigative journalism is a powerful tool for change and at the core of Gray’s philosophy,” Gray’s Chief Operating Officer Sandy Breland said.   “We are proud of our news teams’ relentless pursuit of the truth and honored by these awards for their outstanding work.”

“These stories demonstrate how the impact of investigative journalism extends beyond the headlines to connect, inform, and empower the communities we serve,” said Lee Zurik, Gray’s Senior Vice President, News Strategy and Innovation.

About Gray Media:

Gray Media, or Gray, is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, formally known as Gray Television, Inc.  The company is the nation’s largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets serving 113 television markets that collectively reach approximately 36 percent of US television households. The portfolio includes 77 markets with the top-rated television station and 100 markets with the first and/or second highest rated television station, as well as the largest Telemundo Affiliate group with 43 markets totaling nearly 1.5 million Hispanic TV Households.  The company also owns Gray Digital Media, a full-service digital agency offering national and local clients digital marketing strategies with the most advanced digital products and services.  Gray’s additional media properties include video production companies Raycom Sports, Tupelo Media Group, and PowerNation Studios, and studio production facilities Assembly Atlanta and Third Rail Studios. Gray owns a majority interest in Swirl Films. For more information, please visit www.graymedia.com.

Gray Contact:

Sandy Breland, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, 404-266-8333