Loyola faculty member receives Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for radio show

Today with Dr. Kaye, a radio show hosted by Loyola’s Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., associate professor of communication and African American Studies, received the 2021 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award. Whitehead, who is also founding director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice, sees her work on the radio show as a natural extension of the work that she does at the Institute to try and answer some of America’s most pressing issues.

Whitehead’s show, “Not Again! Baltimore Uprising 2.0,” documented what was happening across America—especially in Baltimore—following the murder of George Floyd. The show received an award in the new category “Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” for outstanding journalism which tackles diversity, racial injustice, and/or inequality.

“The work that I do on my radio show to bring attention to issues around racial equity and justice is uniquely tied to the work that I do at the Karson Institute and in my classroom,” said Whitehead. “We are at a moment in this country where we can no longer avoid having these difficult and emotional conversations. Instead, we must lean in and be fully present as we decide what type of world we want to live in and what type of world we want to leave our children. We do this work not for ourselves, but for them. We do it because it is our responsibility. Angela Davis once said that we have to act as if it were possible to radically change the world and we have to do it every day. My hope is that my work is a small radical offering to the collective work that we must do together if we want to see things get better for everyone.”

The radio show “Not Again Baltimore Uprising 2.0” will now move on for national recognition which will be announced this summer.

The Murrow Awards are the embodiment of the values, principles, and standards set forth by Edward R. Murrow, a journalism pioneer who set the standards for the highest quality of broadcast journalism. The awards for Region Nine comprised of television and radio stations in Delaware, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland were announced on Thursday, May 6.

More information about the award can be found on the Edward R. Murrow Award website.

More about the Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

The Radio Television Digital News Association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of broadcast and digital journalism.

Regional Murrow Awards are presented to small and large radio, television and digital outlets based on 14 geographic regions. Regional winners are automatically considered for a National award. Network competitors are judged at the national level.