“Oh my God. There are definitely casualties. I’m standing at the scene of this rocket attack. There’s somebody lying on the ground in front of me. There is blood all over the floor. The foot has been blown off the medic.” — CBS News correspondent Lara Logan
For the third year in a row, CBS Radio News staff has won this award for breaking news coverage.
“We were on top of the Middle East war from the very beginning with a live report from Jerusalem just minutes after word that two Israeli soldiers had been kidnapped near the Lebanon border,” CBS News producer Paul Farry said.
CBS’s weekly broadcast, “CBS News Weekend Roundup,” originated from Israel, devoting the entire 48-minute broadcast to the conflict.
Judges said: “This entry is the epitome of the category’s criteria. CBS mobilized impressive resources to produce clear, concise, sound-rich radio news reports about the developing war. At various times CBS radio pulled back from on-the-spot coverage to give context. The experience and talent of CBS radio reporters and producers shine in this coverage.”
CBS radio is a place “where you know Edward R. Murrow is looking over your shoulder every minute,” CBS News reporter Vicki Barker said. “You have 25 seconds to grab [listeners’] attention and tell your story in a memorable way. … It is an exhilarating challenge.”
Said Farry: “Because we had so many people involved, we were able to tell this story from every angle. We truly gave our audience a complete picture of this war, why the two sides were fighting, and what it meant to people on both sides of the border.” He added, “This was a difficult assignment for our reporters who risked their lives reporting from the front lines.”
