Overview
- Jon Stewart is the inaugural recipient of the new Comedic News and Commentary honor for The Daily Show and will appear via recorded message.
- Rachel Maddow, Scott Pelley, Peter Alexander, Julio Vaqueiro, Amna Nawaz, Geoff Bennett and John Dickerson are among the national honorees.
- The awards will be presented Dec. 12 in Washington, D.C., with Maddow, Pelley, Alexander and Vaqueiro scheduled to attend in person.
- USC Annenberg said the new comedic category recognizes the growing impact of political information delivered through satire and parody.
- Judges praised the winners for rigorous work in defense of democratic norms, as Martin Kaplan emphasized the press as a firewall against disinformation; local honors include KFOR-TV’s “We’re Citizens” and KSL-TV 5’s Truth Test fact-checking prize.