Keller @ Large: Honor To Be Associated With True Professionals

BOSTON (CBS) - Maybe it's because I've watched one awards show too many, but I am not a big fan of excessive self-congratulation by people in the entertainment and news-media businesses.

If I heard one more Oscar winner last month talk about their skilled-craftsman colleagues as "visionaries," a word that should really be reserved for more than clever filmmakers, my TV might have become airborne.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

But I hope you'll forgive me if I make an exception to my own rule and give a shout-out to my colleagues at WBZ-TV and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 for being honored Wednesday with a coveted Peabody Award for "distinguished achievement and meritorious public service" for their week-long coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath.

Earlier this year, WBZ-TV also won an equally-coveted DuPont Award for the same coverage. The DuPont judges called it "television journalism at its very best – informative, level headed in a time of crisis, and visually arresting." The Peabody Award citation called the coverage "wide-ranging, enterprising, [and] non-sensational."

In a market full of talented broadcast journalists where everyone threw all they had at this story, this is the highest possible praise.

As a bit player in the coverage, I had the chance to step back and watch and listen to my diligent, conscientious colleagues on both the TV and radio sides do their thing. In an environment where opportunities for sensationalism and misreporting abounded, they kept their cool and delivered consummate professionalism.

They aren't heroes. Everyone knows who the real heroes of that terrible day and week were.

But they're true pros, and it's an honor to be associated with them.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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