Belo Corp. Television Stations Honored With 2013 Walter Cronkite Awards

DALLAS, March 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Television Company Belo Corp. (NYSE:  BLC) announced today that its television stations were selected to receive a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism in the Local Station Group category.  Also, honored in the Local Cable Station category was Northwest Cable News ("NWCN"), Belo's regional cable news channel based in the Pacific Northwest.  The 2013 honors were announced yesterday by The Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism which administers the prestigious awards. 

"These awards exemplify how Belo's commitment to journalistic excellence manifests itself across our stations and highlights the Company's mission to provide important political news and information," said Peter L. Diaz, Belo's president/Media Operations.  "We are deeply honored to receive these awards in honor of the remarkable legacy Walter Cronkite represents."

Belo stations were cited in this year's awards announcement for their "engaging, clear, balanced and extremely informative election coverage, using an impressive variety of broadcast and interactive online formats to track races at all levels – local, state, regional and national."

Throughout the 2012 election season, Belo stations provided free airtime to 135 congressional and gubernatorial candidates across the U.S. through the Company's "It's Your Time" program.  In addition, Belo maximized the impact of its voter education efforts by broadcasting an average of 120 minutes per week of political coverage on each of its 14 news-producing television stations in the six weeks leading up to Election Day.  From September 23 to November 5, Belo television stations aired an average of 87 local and national election-related stories each week.  The coverage included eight debates that gave viewers a focused look at the candidates and their platforms. 

NWCN was cited by the judging committee for its "innovative production techniques and analysis-heavy coverage."   The committee also highlighted the station's effort to connect with the viewers through Google+, Facebook and Twitter, "exemplifying the power of social media and the modern technology to engage viewers in the conversation."

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