WNYC’s On The Media Wins duPont-Columbia Award for “We Don’t Talk About Leonard”
Three-part podcast series, produced in partnership with ProPublica, explored the extraordinary influence of conservative activist Leonard Leo
(New York, NY – January 23, 2024) — WNYC Studios’ On The Media has been honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for “We Don’t Talk About Leonard,” a three part podcast series about conservative activist Leonard Leo, produced in partnership with ProPublica. The duPont-Columbia Award is among the most prestigious honors in journalism. Winners were announced last night by Columbia Journalism School.
Hosted by Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll and Ilya Marritz, “We Don’t Talk About Leonard” explores the web of money, influence and power behind the conservative takeover of America’s judicial system that was led by the largely unknown Leonard Leo. The series reveals how Leo built a machine to install a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court, and then worked to ensure these judges decided the right cases, brought by the right lawyers, and heard by the right lower court justices. The series concludes with a consideration of Leo’s plans to take what he did for the courts and apply it to other aspects of American politics.
“We Don’t Talk About Leonard” was edited by On The Media executive producer Katya Rogers and ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger.
“We’re deeply grateful to receive this special recognition from the duPont-Columbia Awards’,” said Kenya Young, Senior Vice President, Programming and WNYC Studios. “This series and its exploration of Leonard Leo, does exactly what great journalism should do – it pulls back the curtain on how strategy and influence work in American politics. Our talented team at On The Media, together with ProPublica, uncovered how one person, largely unknown to the public, has shaped our judicial and political system for generations to come. It’s exactly the kind of revolutionary journalism that drives us at WNYC, and we’re honored and proud to have this work recognized.”
Previously, WNYC won a duPont Award in 2022 for Blindspot: Tulsa Burning and two duPont-Columbia Awards in 2021 for Radiolab’s “The Other Latif” and “The Flag and The Fury.” WNYC also received two duPont-Columbia Awards in 2018 for its podcasts Trump, Inc. and Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, as well as for its local enterprise reporting in 2002, 2012, and 2016.
ABOUT WNYC STUDIOS
WNYC Studios is the premier producer of on-demand and broadcast audio, and home to some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and popular podcasts, including Radiolab, On the Media, and The New Yorker Radio Hour. WNYC Studios productions have been honored with Edward R. Murrow Awards, George Foster Peabody Awards, duPont-Columbia Awards, Webby Awards and more. WNYC Studios is leading the new golden age in audio with podcasts and national radio programs that inform, inspire, and delight millions of curious and highly engaged listeners across digital, mobile, and broadcast platforms. Programs include personal narratives, deep journalism, revealing interviews, and smart entertainment as varied and intimate as the human voice itself. For more information, visit wnycstudios.org.