Journalism is experiencing an existential crisis.

The very nature of truth itself is being challenged every day – by those in power, and by ordinary citizens who themselves struggle to differentiate propaganda from proof. Some newsrooms are disappearing, and those that remain face increasing challenges at a time when the world needs journalists more than ever.

We do so not because it is convenient, but because it is a calling. For 70 years, ABC News has worked to earned the trust of - and connection with - our viewers. Reaching them wherever they are in this changing media landscape is our top priority.

ABC News continues to answer that call whether at the Syria-Lebanon border for an extraordinary moment in the history of the Middle East, in Ukraine during the continued Russian assault, or questioning the presidential candidates in their only debate on behalf of the American people. The Presidential debate was produced entirely at ABC News’ expense, and often in ways that minimized competitive advantage. The network offered the debate across 17 other networks, enabling more than 67 million viewers to watch. In all, more than 41% of registered voters watched the debate.

All of us at ABC News are committed to something vital: delivering the best journalism and storytelling possible and making a meaningful impact on our audiences and the world around us, whether by World News Tonight with David Muir (the most-watched newscast in the U.S. in 2024); 20/20 (our award-winning primetime newsmagazine); or Good Morning America (in its 13th consecutive year of ranking #1 among morning news programs). Together, we reach more Americans than any other outlet…by far.

In 2024, we expanded our storytelling in a number of ways:

Reports that stretch long past the initial news cycle. This groundbreaking but simple approach to news coverage was conceived in the wake of the tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on May 24th, 2023. We watched news crews – ours and others – overtake the small town as often happens in breaking news.  Every hotel room, restaurant seat and parking spot are swallowed up quickly and then – just as quickly – the news cycle takes journalists to the next big story.  We decided to cover Uvalde differently, committing to a deeper reporting initiative.  ABC News opened a bureau, embedding in all aspects of the community, including the local newspaper, the Uvalde Leader-News. Our reporting year culminated in May, 2024, with the moving feature-length documentary, Print it Black. The film focuses on one family whose daughter was killed, and their “second family” – the staff of the newspaper. The film provides a deeply intimate and hyper-local look into the concurrent national crises of mass shootings and dwindling local journalism.

Expanded partnerships with affiliates and owned stations. ABC News knows our power is rooted in collaboration. In 2024, we prioritized reporting partnerships with our eight owned stations, producing impactful enterprise investigations and the most ambitious live coverage of June's PRIDE parades that we've ever broadcast.

Commitment to climate reporting. In April, 2024, we launched The Power of Us, a far-reaching network-wide initiative exploring the transformative potential of actions everyone can take to address one of the most consequential issues of our time. We investigated Navajo and Hopi Nations lacking access to electricity, and profiled Navajo-led companies working to provide off-the-grid independence with solar energy. We took a fascinating look at life in Earthships (homes made entirely of recyclable materials), and focused on how anyone can adapt sustainable living practices in their own homes. We produced a groundbreaking investigative report exposing the epic 9,000 mile journey American plastic waste can take across the globe under the premise of “recycling.” This report, a year-and-a-half in the making, appears to be the first and only time American journalists have successfully tracked waste from U.S. corporations to foreign shores using tracking devices. Never before have specific American corporations and government leaders been so publicly confronted with the impacts of the plastic waste America ships abroad.

Leading the 2024 Presidential election cycle with exclusive reporting. Our team's preparation for, and commitment to reporting on the 2024 Presidential race was unrivaled. In fact, our reporting consistently became a primary source for other news outlets. Each of those reports is a testament to journalism’s foundational principle: to inform the public, enabling them to make their own decisions about the most important issues facing our country.

On July 4th, one week after a disappointing debate with then-candidate Donald Trump, President Biden gave one of the most important TV interviews of his career in an exclusive one-on-one with George Stephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos pressed Biden on reports that the democratic leadership had lost confidence in him and on claims inside the White House that Biden's cognitive lapses had become increasingly common.

Then, on September 10th, the American public had their only opportunity to witness Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris debate side by side, offering their plans and presenting their positions to the American public. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis went into the debate not with fact-checks in mind, but with facts at hand. This was not gratuitous. We felt an obligation to present statements of fact when the truth was misconstrued. We did not want viewers to leave the debate misinformed. Over 100 producers, designers, engineers, carpenters, camera people and many others set to work at the National Constitution Center and the Pennsylvania Convention Center for operations that included thirteen cameras (nine robotic) inside the debate hall, more than 20 LED screens, four fully functioning TV studios and a 90,000-sq. ft. press room - the biggest ever - complete with workspaces, monitors, power, internet, and space for close to 1,000 journalists and 85 TV platforms.

We have expanded our culturally impactful programming, inspiring and educating our audience in new ways. The one-hour special, Latinos in Hollywood: Owning Our Destiny celebrated the resiliency, artistry, and ingenuity of Hollywood’s creative Latino community while underscoring the vital importance of visibility, representation, and equal opportunity; We partnered with the 10 Million Names Project on the groundbreaking endeavor to unearth the names of 10 million formerly enslaved African Americans whose contributions have been erased or hidden due the brutal history of slavery. Our hope is that these stories will inform and educate the larger public while illuminating the simple fact that Black history is American history – essential for all of us to understand.

We continue to broaden our reach in the digital space. In 2024, we further expanded our ABC News Live streaming service. ABC News Live has seen truly remarkable growth, closing out 2024 with more than 600 million hours streamed. In 2024, we launched an additional weekend broadcast, bringing the live channel to more than 80 hours of programming a week.

Prime with Linsey Davis, the platform's flagship newscast just celebrated its 5th anniversary. The broadcast's great strength lies in their desire to delve deeper, lingering on stories that matter most to viewers. Unlike a traditional newscasts that often devote a minute or two to a story, a Prime story might be 10 or 12 minutes long. Prime has quickly become the primary content engine of ABC News’ streaming channel.

Our social media accounts in just the last quarter of 2024 increased 523% year over year in total views. ABC News on TikTok has had a surge in views, particularly with political content.

The digital teams have produced immersive long-form series and documentaries, introduced innovative programming for social media platforms, created chart-topping podcasts, and offered unmatched statistical analysis.

ABC News respectfully submits the following selection of original, exclusive, rigorous reporting for your consideration for what we regard as the most important award in journalism: the 2025 Edward R. Murrow Overall Excellence Award.

ABC News Digital

ABC NEWS ON TIKTOK ABC News brings breaking news, in-depth reporting, and cultural moments to life on TikTok and is charting the path for news on the platform. There's a renowned appetite for news and politics on TikTok. On election day and the day after, our social team produced 36 election-related pieces of content. 23 of those stories saw one million or more views. During our coverage of devastating Hurricane Milton on TikTok, 18 out of 38 videos (47%) also saw a million or more views.​ Providing quick, critical breaking news and relevant information has helped us grow our follower count by more than 80% year over year and we're excited for continued growth and expansion in 2025.

PATRICE: THE MOVIE

Patrice Jetter has finally found the love of her life, Garry, who is also disabled. They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do, or even if they just move in together - the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Like millions of disabled Americans, they have to decide between the benefits and healthcare they need to survive and living with the person they love most in the world. PATRICE: The Movie is a wholly original film - pushing back on the trope that disability is the main obstacle disabled people face, when in reality it is an inaccessible society.

The film envelopes viewers into Patrice’s personal history with unique scenes portrayed in the style of a school play. Patrice plays herself - no matter what age she is in the story - and the other characters are played by kids. The sets were all designed by Patrice. This device was born out of the desire to make Patrice’s art and aesthetic a hallmark of the film. It also becomes apparent that juxtaposing the systemic failings with the innocence of children laid that inhumanity even more bare.

Director Ted Passon has known Patrice for over twenty years. Despite the duration of their friendship, there were new difficult memories from Patrice’s past that were coming up. The team brought in a trauma-informed counselor who met with Patrice weekly during the majority of production. It was important to our team that there was disability representation both behind and in front of the camera. There were disabled creatives at all levels of production and post which included the disabled child actors who worked in front of the camera. We worked closely with an accessibility coordinator to make sure the production was accessible for everyone. The team also created what may be the first audio description version of the trailer for a documentary film. We hope that these practices can become normalized in the industry.

YOUR VOICE YOUR VOTE

ANALYZING VOTING PATTERNS

ABC News turns deep statistical analysis into compelling stories about elections, politics, economics, and American society. Some say Congress is a lot like high school — but who lawmakers vote with isn't necessarily who they sit with in the cafeteria. 538 was interested in whether members’ formal ideological caucus affiliations matched up with how they actually voted. Is every member of the Problem Solvers Caucus actually voting to advance bipartisan legislation? (Spoiler alert: No.) Do members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition actually break with their party to side more often with Republicans? (Spoiler alert: Yes.) This fascinating interactive explores how members voted in 2023, and how their voting records aligned (or didn’t align) with their caucus memberships.

SEVERED: DIABETES, DENIAL AND MISTRUST

This year-long streaming medical investigation examines the alarming and growing number of Americans needing entirely preventable limb amputations because of poorly managed or undiagnosed diabetes. Our reporting takes a frank look at why Black and Brown Americans are more likely to be sent into these life-altering and often devastating surgeries than other people. We believe Severed is an equal part investigation and public service wake-up call. Currently, there are about 30 million Americans who are diagnosed and another nine million who have no idea they have this disease.

The numbers are shocking. In the U.S., someone loses a foot or a leg to complications from diabetes every four minutes. But as our team discovered, these surgeries take place more often in the South and in largely Black and Brown communities for reasons that often have little to do with genetics.

We would argue that one of the greatest strengths of Severed comes from how personally this story is told. At least a dozen journalists worked on this project, and almost all of them have someone in their family who suffers from diabetes or has had a limb cut off because of complications from the disease.

THE MONTHSLONG JOURNEY OUT OF A WAR ZONE

This is the experience of Sara Bsaiso, a Palestinian teen who suffered extensive third-degree burns while attempting to save her younger brother from a fireball during an attack in Gaza. ABC News Digital spent time with her after she was evacuated to the U.S. for treatment. This moving report starkly highlights the harrowing cost of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.