PHOENIX — For its special series of reports on policing, the ABC15 Investigators have won the George Foster Peabody Award – one of the most distinguished achievements in broadcasting.
Jurors announced that 'Policing Phoenix' was unanimously selected as a winner for the award.
“ABC15 Arizona’s Policing Phoenix is a groundbreaking video series that renders the DOJ’s most sweeping investigation of a local police department into a powerful, visual account, rooted in years of investigative journalism,” according to the announcement. “The 32-part series exposes the systemic failures of the Phoenix Police Department and brings anonymized DOJ findings to life through real cases, footage, and people.”
The Peabody Awards honor excellence in broadcast and digital storytelling. Each year, jurors select 30 winners from various categories, including entertainment, podcasts, documentaries, and news.
ABC15 is one of just two local broadcast outlets to win this year.
WTVF-TV, another Scripps station, was also honored.
In 'Policing Phoenix', the ABC15 Investigators broke down the U.S. Department of Justice’s “historic” report on the Phoenix Police Department. The unprecedented project took federal investigators’ 126 pages of written findings and turned them into a comprehensive volume of video reports.
The DOJ investigation was launched because of ABC15’s reporting, and much of the final report is based on the station’s work.
The project was reported and produced by a three-person team: Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing, Senior Investigator Melissa Blasius, and investigative producer Kelsie Blazier.
ABC15 has won the Peabody Award four previous times: 2007, 2012, 2020, and 2021.
Policing Phoenix was also honored this week with a National Headliner Award and named finalist for the Scripps Howard Award.
