The Radio Television Digital News Association recognized two WFAE 90.7 FM reporters, Lisa Worf and Sarah Delia, with Edward R. Murrow Awards in its regional competition for electronic journalism. Worf and Delia's work ranked first among large market stations in the categories of Hard News and Investigative Reporting for coverage of the shooting of Rueben Galindo and the Charlotte School of Law's effort to pay students to not take the bar exam.
“We’re extremely proud of reporters Lisa Worf and Sarah Delia and their editor, news director Greg Collard, for producing powerful storytelling that is vital to the well-being of this community,” said Ju-Don Marshall, WFAE’s chief content officer. “Our journalists work hard every day to produce these kinds of stories, and we’re appreciative that those efforts are being recognized with such a coveted award.”
Delia reported on Galindo's shooting in the hard news category. On Sept. 6, 2017, Reuben Galindo was shot and killed outside his home by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer. CMPD says Galindo approached officers with a gun in his hand and they felt a threat. Galindo’s attorneys say he wanted police to come to his home, and it’s not clear that he was holding a gun at the time he was shot. Delia talked with Azucena Zamorano, Galindo’s significant other of two-and-a-half years. Zamorano and her family were home when Galindo was shot and killed.
Worf won for a series of stories on Charlotte School of Law in the investigative reporting category. The for-profit school came under scrutiny by its accreditor, the American Bar Association, for admitting too many unqualified students and its low bar passage rates. School leaders decided to pay students not to take the bar and instead enter a bar preparation program. Worf obtained emails that showed how the program worked, and recordings of a law school official encouraging faculty to get students to participate in the program, telling them the school’s bar passage rate would have been much worse if not for the payment program.
“Sarah Delia’s story is a classic ‘driveway moment’ piece," said Collard, WFAE's news director. "It still gives me chills when I listen to it – as it did again today upon learning it had won a Murrow.
"And Lisa’s series of stories on the Charlotte School of Law is an example of dogged determination and the type of investigative work we aspire to do," Collard added. "Both Sarah and Lisa’s stories represent substantive journalism and storytelling that WFAE is committed to consistently deliver. Their recognition is well-deserved.”
WFAE competes in a region that’s comprised of stations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. As regional winners, these entries are eligible for the national awards competition that will be judged in June.
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