The Radio Television Digital News Association honored NBC Bay Area with two National Edward R. Murrow Awards on Tuesday.
The awards were for "Excellence in Social Media" for coverage of the “Wine Country Fires" and in the "News Documentary" category for the “Kicked Out” series on unlawful evictions in San Francisco.
The NBC Bay Area Digital Team won for “Excellence in Social Media” for their coverage of the North Bay wildfires.
Although details were scarce the night multiple wildfires erupted in Napa and Sonoma counties, we realized pretty quickly what a powerful role social media and user-generated content would play in our coverage of the most destructive wildfire in California's history. Overnight, photos, videos and eyewitness accounts of mass evacuations posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by North Bay residents helped us keep citizens informed as we disseminated the information through our own social media platforms. Multimedia reporters from the digital team rushed to Coffey Park – the neighborhood that was burned to the ground – interviewing residents on Facebook Live, Periscope as well as tweeting out live updates from the scene, then producing stories and videos with the content.[[451349103, C]]
The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit won in the "News Documentary" category for their “Kicked Out” series.
More than 10,000 people in San Francisco have been evicted from their homes over the past five years, but hundreds of those residents may have been wrongfully evicted, according to an analysis by the Unit.
Landlords can legally evict their tenants for one of 16 reasons, including failure to pay rent and housing too many roommates. One of the fastest growing evictions, however, allows landlords to kick out their tenants if they, or, in some cases, their relatives, want to move into the home. Owner move-in evictions have spiked more than 150 percent in just the past five years. The Investigative Unit spent six months interviewing over 100 people all across the city to determine whether landlords or their family members are actually living in the homes they claimed to move into. The investigation revealed widespread abuse that has shocked residents, lawmakers, and even those who investigate wrongful evictions.[[469596953,C]]
Local
RTDNA announced the winners of the 2018 National Murrow Awards from more than 4,400 entries, recognizing 89 local and network radio, television and digital news organizations for 118 examples of outstanding journalism in 16 categories.
Other honorees include NBC News, CBS News, KCRA-TV, Sacramento, The New York Times and NPR.
The national awards will be presented October 22, 2018, at the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City.
