GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — For the fourth consecutive year, KARE 11 is privileged to be nominated for a George Foster Peabody Award, one of the most prestigious honors in media.
The Peabody Awards announced Tuesday that KARE 11 Investigates is nominated for its "Nowhere to Turn" investigation, which uncovered widespread sexual assault by private contractors hired for the long-distance transport of prison inmates. The report was produced by KARE 11 reporter A.J. Lagoe, executive producer Steve Eckert, and photojournalists Gary Knox and Devin Krinke, joined by KUSA 9News colleagues Aaron Adelson and Chris Vanderveen, with additional reporting assistance from fellow TEGNA station WHAS in Louisville.
“The work by the KARE 11 Investigates team exposed a horrible wrongdoing that is now in the process of being addressed," said KARE 11 President and General Manager Doug Wieder. "This is local journalism at its finest, and to receive the honor of a Peabody nomination is deeply appreciated and gratifying.”
One of the prison transport guards featured in the KARE 11 report has since been sentenced for serial rapes. KARE 11's investigation also prompted the Minnesota Legislature to consider reforms that would revoke or refuse licenses to prisoner transport companies whose employees have committed sex crimes or used excessive force.
“These stories should not have needed to be told. But they needed to be told,” said Lagoe. “Thanks to the voices of the detainees and former guards willing to speak out, positive change is happening in our state that would not have happened without their stories.”
Watch the full "Nowhere to Turn" special below:
Last year, KARE 11 was the only local television station to receive a Peabody Award, in recognition of the KARE 11 Investigates special, "The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect," an investigation that revealed systemic – and, too often, fatal – failures to treat people with mental illness and protect the public.
KARE 11 also won a Peabody Award in 2022 in partnership with KUSA for "Prone," a multi-state investigation into police restraint tactics following the murder of George Floyd.
KARE 11 Investigates received a Peabody nomination in 2021 for "Cruel and Unusual," a series of reports that uncovered a suspicious pattern of inmate deaths under the care of the same jail doctor; botched state investigations; and inmates dying needlessly while being denied constitutionally-mandated medical and mental health care.
The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940, based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. Peabody Awards recognize excellence across multiple platforms that “shine a light on Stories that Matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice and equity.”
Peabody winners will be announced on May 9 and honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 9.