On Assignment

Zoe Chace of This American Life and Michael Barbaro of The Daily speak about the rewards and challenges of making stories for audio, the "tyranny of the good talker," and the sense of intimacy that comes from the voice alone.

An open conversation with Natalia Antelava about her radio documentary “Russia’s New Scapegoat.” The 2018 duPont-Columbia Award winning radio documentary exposes the Russia’s growing anti-LGBT crisis.

A candid conversation with director James Bluemel and his fearless subject Hassan Akkad about their film Exodus. The 2018 duPont-Columbia Award winning documentary captures the extraordinary journeys of refugees fleeing to Europe, using their first hand stories and footage.

Zoe Chace has no problem walking up to strangers with headphones on and mike poised. It’s how she captured her duPont-Columbia winning story, “Ep 600 Will I Know Anyone at This Party?” which gives a firsthand account of the immigration push back taking place in America today. Chace is a producer at the radio program and podcast, This American Life. She reveals her tips for getting into the Republican convention without credentials, persuading people to talk when they don’t want to, and managing fears of getting fired. Check out the “Deploraball” episode referenced in this week’s podcast. And see Chace and our other winners accept their batons at the 2018 duPont-Columbia ceremony.

Gawker went bankrupt after releasing the Hulk Hogan sex tape, but the scandal uncovered a far bigger threat to the press: billionaires angling to silence the media. In Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press, Director Brian Knappenberger explores how billionaires like Peter Thiel and Sheldon Adelson used their fortunes to censor journalists at Gawker and the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Washington Post Chief Correspondent Dan Balz knows politics. In conversation with Executive Editor Martin Baron, Balz shares with us the lessons he learned covering seven presidents--and how to report in the era of Trump.

'Obit' by Vanessa Gould offers viewers a glimpse into the world of the New York Times obituaries desk, examining the work of the small team tasked with writing profiles of the recently deceased.

Oscar-winning director John Ridley and veteran ABC News producer Jeanmarie Condon wove together intimate first person accounts and archival footage to create a stunning, cinematic portrait of the events preceding the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the new documentary 'Let It Fall.' Ridley and Condon visited the Columbia Journalism School to discuss the film with professor June Cross.

Filmmakers Dylan Bank, Daniel DiMauro, and Morgan Pehme followed lobbyist, political strategist, and self-identified "dirty trickster" Roger Stone for five years. In a recent conversation with Columbia Journalism School professor Betsy West, they discuss how their work resulted in the Netflix documentary "Get Me Roger Stone."

On Assignment speaks with Kate Howard, a veteran investigative reporter for WFPL’s Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, who shares her essential tips for doing a 15-minute background check on your sources.

NBC Anchor and Correspondent Kate Snow, who won a 2017 duPont award for her Dateline NBC report, “The Cosby Accusers Speak,” talks with On Assignment about her experience reporting on 27 of the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual harassment and assault.

Correspondent, investigative reporter, and J School graduate Mariana van Zeller speaks with On Assignment about covering the opioid epidemic in the U.S., as well as about balancing her personal and professional life.

Lindsey Smith of Michigan Radio was one of the first reporters to break the story of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. She spoke to On Assignment about learning there were devastating lead levels in Flint's water and about covering the crisis, which has impacted her both professionally and personally. Her documentary, 'Not Safe to Drink,' won a duPont this past year for its outstanding storytelling and investigative work.

For our Summer Series, we’re catching up with this past year’s 75th Anniversary duPont winners. In this episode, Abi and Lisa speak to Daniel Zwerdling, NPR journalist extraordinaire, who has spent years reporting on veterans’ rights. We hear about how journalism is a lot like studying Psychology, his best interview techniques, and how he balances day-to-day stories with the longer investigations he builds over years.

Director Ezra Edelman had no desire to rehash the OJ Simpson story. Here's why he made an 8-hour film about it. A conversation with Edelman on his 2017 Oscar and duPont-Columbia Awards winning film OJ: Made in America. Edelman spoke with Professor Betsy West after a screening of part one of the film at Columbia Journalism School's Film Fridays.

An interview with independent filmmaker Nanfu Wang about her feature debut Hooligan Sparrow, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. The film follows Chinese dissident Ye Haiyan, more widely known as “Hooligan Sparrow." Marked as enemies of the state, the activists are under constant government surveillance and face interrogation, harassment and imprisonment during the course of film.

Correspondent (and Columbia Journalism School professor) Dr. Jelani Cobb embedded himself in the Newark Police Department’s gang unit in the Frontline documentary Policing the Police, to get a first-hand look at the issue, as the debate about race, policing and civil rights continues to unfold in the United States. In this episode, Dr. Cobb and producer James Jacoby take us behind the scenes. Also, our recommendations for what to watch: Gleason and Street Fight.

A conversation with Academy award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy about her documentary "A Girl in the River," which tells the story of Saba, a Pakistani woman who survives an attempted honor killing at the hands of her father and uncle. The story takes an unexpected turn when she chooses to forgive the perpetrators. “A Girl in the River” won a duPont-Columbia Award in 2017 and an Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2016. You can watch “A Girl in the River” on HBO now, as well as Obaid-Chinoy's other work, “Pakistan: Children of the Taliban” and “Saving Face.”

This year’s duPont-Columbia Awards celebrated our 75th anniversary in a room packed with journalism greats like NBC News’ Lester Holt, CBS News’ Jane Pauley, This American Life’s Ira Glass, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Bill Moyers, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and so many others. Holt kicked off the evening by addressing the current anti-media climate head-on. Throughout the ceremony, award winners and honorees echoed his sentiments, reaffirming just how critical journalism is, now more than ever. See the complete list of this year’s winners here. Watch the full ceremony and learn more about the duPont-Columbia Awards at duPont.org. #duPont2017

Go behind the scenes with two of the minds behind the remarkable documentary, Life, Animated. Pulitzer Prize winner and J-School grad Ron Suskind and Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams tell the real-life story of how Ron’s autistic son, Owen Suskind, reconnected with the world around him through classic Disney animated films, like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. Life, Animated tells Owen’s story through a combination of home movies, Disney clips, and original animation. It's based on the 2014 book of the same name by Owen's father.