NewsChannel 21 receives Murrow Award for Malheur coverage

NewsChannel 21 and Chief Photographer Steve Kaufmann have received the 2017 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association for the station’s coverage of the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

KTVZ received the honor Tuesday in the “continuing coverage” category, competing against other small-market TV stations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

The Radio Television Digital News Association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971.

“Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of electronic journalism,” the organization said.

KTVZ General Manager Bob Singer said, “We’re proud of Steve and the reporters who put in plenty of extra hours and miles to cover this story, and covered it very well. A big thanks goes to Steve for his hard work and creativity. His dedication to journalism and storytelling is an inspiration to our staff.”

Throughout the 41-day standoff, Kaufmann and several NewsChannel 21 reporters made the 150-mile trip from Bend to Burns several times, sometimes staying overnight and spending cold winter nights sleeping in a news car to cover the unfolding events in Harney County.

A composite of that coverage can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/201698829

Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition, which will be judged in May and announced in June.