For the second straight year, 60 MINUTES will be honored with a George Polk Award in Journalism.This time, America’s most-watched news broadcast won the national television reporting prize for a Steve Kroft report, “The Price of Oil.” The January 2009 segment reported that Wall Street speculation rather than supply or demand led to wild fluctuations in the price of oil. It was produced by Leslie Cockburn; associate producer was Coleman Cowan, editors are Robert Zimet and Harold Gold.
Last year Scott Pelley’s report, “The Waste Land,” about the dumping of America’s electronic waste overseas, won the television prize. The award for Kroft’s report brings to five the number of Polks won by 60 MINUTES or its correspondents.
The George Polk Awards in Journalism were founded in 1949 in memory of CBS News reporter George Polk, who was murdered while reporting a story in Greece. The awards recognize excellence in print and electronic journalism and are administered by Long Island University. They will be presented in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City at a luncheon on April 7.
The executive producer of 60 MINUTES is Jeff Fager.