Retro Report is a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...
organization that produces short-form
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
for historical context of current news stories.
The organization describes itself as a counterweight to the
24-hour news cycle
The 24-hour news cycle (or 24/7 news cycle) is 24-hour investigation and reporting of news, concomitant with fast-paced lifestyles. The vast news resources available in recent decades have increased competition for audience and advertiser attent ...
.
They have covered topics including the
Population Bomb theory, the
Tawana Brawley rape allegations, the
1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
, the
MMR vaccine controversy
Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism frau ...
, the
Ruby Ridge standoff, the
Columbine High School massacre, the
McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit, and the history of black activism in sports.
On October 7, 2019, Retro Report launched ''Retro Report on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
'', a one-hour news magazine series hosted by journalist
Celeste Headlee and artist
Masud Olufani, featuring humorist
Andy Borowitz.
Retro Report's stories are published on their own website and also by distribution partners such as ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'', PBS's ''
American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'',
STAT News,
''Quartz'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', where they are featured alongside an article by longtime
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
Clyde Haberman. In a
Poynter Institute for Media Studies
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...
article, Executive Producer Kyra Darnton describes Retro Report's mission as providing, "context and perspective by going back and re-reporting and reanalyzing older stories, or stories that we think of as not relevant anymore." In a 2014
Nieman Foundation for Journalism article, Ann Derry, ''The New York Times''’ editorial director for video and television partnerships, said Retro Report's stories are "consistently among the most-watched pieces of video content at the Times." Since the series premiered on May 6, 2013, Retro Report has produced more than 175 short form documentaries.
History
Retro Report was created as a non-profit by entrepreneur and philanthropist Christopher Buck (son of
Subway founder
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...
) and is run by Executive Producer Kyra Darnton and a team of producers, reporters, and editors, who come mostly from news organizations ''
60 Minutes'' and
''Frontline''.
[
]
Awards
* News & Documentary Emmy Awards
:Nominated -- Outstanding Business, Consumer or Economic Report for "Future of Aging"
2019
:Nominated -- Outstanding Editing: News for "Operation Ceasefire
(2019
:Nominated – Outstanding Arts, Culture and Entertainment Report for "All in the Game: The Black Athlete in America" (2018)
(2019
:Winner – Best in Sports for "The Black Athlete in America" (2018)
:Winner – Regional Overall Excellence (2017)Center for Investigative Reporting
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization based in Emeryville, California. It was founded in 1977 as the nation’s first nonprofit investigative journalism organization, and has since grown into a multi-plat ...
) (2017)
Overall Excellence
(2014)Webby Award
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...
s:
:Nominated -- News & Politics fo
Best Overall Series (2019)
:Winner -- Sports for "All in the Game: Black Athlete in America
(2019)
:Nominated -- News & Politics for "Why We Can't Have a Civil Conversation About Guns
(2019)
:Nominated -- Technology for "Future of Gaming" in collaboration with Quart
(2019)
:Winner – Film & Video - News & Politics: Best Overall Series (2018)
:Nominated – Film & Video: News & Politics for 'Why Hasn't Sexual Harassment Disappeared?' (2018)
:Nominated – Film & Video: Technology for "The Future of Money" (201
News & Politics
:Nominated – Film & Video: Trailer for "What Happens Next" (201
News & Politics
:Honoree – Film & Video: News & Politics for Best Overall Series (2017)Gracie Awards
The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contr ...
:
:Winner – Outstanding Original Online Programming for "The Shadow of Thalidomide" (2014)
The Jackson Hole Science Media Awards
* Nominated – Best short form series for "The Code" (2018)
* Society of Business Editors and Writers: Winner – Best Video for "What Happens Next" (2018)
* National Press Photographers Association
:Recognized in the Best Photojournalism Competition for photos take in India (2016)
References
External links
*
* {{YouTube, playlist=PL4CGYNsoW2iAOqPtxm4RHo205w_R1IWuH, title=Retro Report for The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
.
American journalism organizations
Webby Award winners
Edward R. Murrow Awards