Peabody Winners Urge Filmmakers to ‘Fight for Truth’ as Kudos Honor Programs That Tackle Global Conflicts and Social Ills
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business Editor From documentaries about war in Ukraine and Gaza to the sweetness of “Bluey” to the earthiness of “Somebody Somewhere” and “Reservation Dogs” to the Mel Brooks canon, the 84th annual Peabody Awards ceremony on Sunday saluted an array of standout TV programs, movies, documentaries, podcasts, video games and more.
The respected awards, adminstered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, were held at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, marking the first time the Peabodys were handed out on the West Coast after decades in New York. “Finally, Los Angeles gets an awards show,” host Kumail Nanjiani quipped at the start of the two hour-plus ceremony.
The high volume of conflict in the world and in the U.S. — from school shootings to hate crimes to the spike in political extremism — was reflected in the programs selected for this year’s honors and in the comments on stage fromwinners.
A number of documentarians, producers and filmmakers sounded the alarm about the dangers of misinformation and deepfakes seeping into the digital historical record. “It’s not only the people who are getting killed in war — it’s the truth,” said Mstyslav Chernov, director of “20 Hours in Mariupol,” which won the Oscar for feature documentary in March and was also recognized with a Peabody. “I wish all my fellow documentary filmmakers who are out there strength and energy to fight for truth because that’s the fight that’s waiting for us.” Phil Williams, a news anchor at NBCUniversal-owned WTVF-TV Nashville, echoed Chernov’s sentiment, urging the crowd to remember that local broadcast journalists are in a daily fight to establish the facts of any given situation.
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