Three different streamers — Max, Netflix and Paramount+ — are among the top recipients of the DuPont-Columbia Awards, some of the highest honors bestowed annually on audio and video reporting in the public interest. Some common news organizations named it the "DuPont Columbia Award." Not every year.

CNN, CBS News, NBC News and ABC News were not among the 16 top recipients of this year's awards announced Wednesday. The award has been presented by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism since 1968.

Max, Little Room Films and The Boston Globe won the Silver Stick Award for "Boston Murders," a documentary and podcast that explores how a high-profile Boston murder led to a racist rush to judgment. MTV Documentary Films and Paramount+ win for short film Birth of a Nation: Mary Gaffney’s Resistance The practice of forced reproduction in the antebellum South is explored. Netflix and Lucernam Films won the award for You Are Not Alone: ​​Fighting the Wolves, a documentary that deconstructs the gang rape that took place during the 2016 San Fermin festival.

There are multiple wins for news companies like PBS, ABC News and CNN in 2023 or 2024.

The outcome is likely to leave many mainstream TV news organizations in trouble, many of which have cut costs, laid off staff and slashed resources while their corporate parents grapple with the challenges of the streaming era. More and more traditional TV viewers are switching to broadband services that allow them to watch programming at a time of their choosing, a dynamic that is wreaking havoc on the media economy. Many owners of television news organizations, including Paramount Worldwide, Warner Bros. Discovery Channel and Comcast, have orchestrated organizational shakeups or are considering mergers and acquisitions.

Speaking at the ceremony, 60 Minutes reporter Bill Whitaker acknowledged some of the challenges facing the industry. “This is a fraught time for journalism. With wars taking place in Europe, the Middle East and across the globe, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called this one of the deadliest times for journalists in recent history. At home, powerful Politicians call us "the enemy of the people," and more and more news consumers doubt our credibility. Television news audiences and budgets have dwindled," Whitaker said. "So journalists, as we used to say in the 1970s, 'Hold on.'" Just like journalists, we pay tribute tonight to these public servants who have done a great job, and we must keep digging, keep looking under the rock, Continue to shine light into the shadows, continue to speak out for the voiceless, and bring hope to the hopeless. Continue to report with honesty, integrity and factuality. Our democracy requires it. "

Several DuPont Award winners are focused on competition. Five silver batons are awarded to journalists who have revisited the subject at different times in American history - from the antebellum South to contemporary examples of America's racial divide. In addition to the projects listed above, other DuPont award-winning projects include the Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones, Reveal and PRX “40 Acres and a Lie”; National Geographic Documentary, Kennedy/Marshall, Alegria Films and Cortés Filmworks “The Race for Space”; and Resident KFOR, Oklahoma City, and Ari Meyer's The Wrong Man.

Three other DuPont batons won audio reporting awards. NPR won for its coverage of the war in Gaza; ProPublica & On the Media WNYC Studios won for its podcast series "We Don't Talk About Leonard"; "We Regret to Notice" produced in partnership with Reveal and UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Project You" win.

First-time winners include The Outlaw Ocean Project, a nonprofit news organization, for its investigative series “China: A Seafood Superpower,” and Scripps News for its ongoing investigation “Maine Shooting Event: Missed warning".

Vice News won the Dupont Award for its online film "Texas Battlefield," while Songbird Studios and Imaginary Lane won the award for "Porcelain War," about the war in Ukraine.

Established in 1942, the DuPont-Columbia Awards honor recipients each year, inform the public about the contributions of these journalists, and support journalism education and innovation to uphold the highest standards of journalism. A panel of industry veterans selected 30 finalists and 16 winners. The entry pool includes traditional national and local news outlets from across the country, as well as streaming and entertainment outlets.