Columbia Journalism School honored the ProPublica and WNYC podcast “Trump, Inc.” with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award honoring outstanding audiovisual reporting in the public interest.
The award recognized the first season of “Trump Inc.,” which debuted in February 2018 and examined the business dealings of President Donald Trump and his family. Across 12 episodes and three bonus installments, reporters tackled questions that remained unanswered more than a year after his election: what deals have been happening, who his partners are and whether the president is putting his profits ahead of the country’s interests. Conceived as an “open investigation,” the series invited listeners to join ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger, Eric Umansky, Justin Elliott and Heather Vogell, and WNYC reporters Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, in the quest for answers.
The series offered richly told narratives about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s history of partnering with criminals; rampant casino money-laundering rules violations at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City; and how there were tens of millions of dollars in unexplained spending at the president’s inauguration. Listeners also provided critical tips, including one about how a Trump property was installing golf tee markers with the presidential seal (which were removed after the series revealed them).
With nearly 1.2 million downloads, “Trump, Inc.” was named by Apple as one of the most popular new podcasts launched this year, and by The New Yorker as one of the year’s best.
This is ProPublica’s first duPont Award. See all of this year’s duPont Award winners here.
