APM Reports’ In the Dark to be featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes Jan. 3
Acclaimed St. Paul-based investigative podcast’s groundbreaking reporting included in Curtis Flowers story
ST. PAUL, Dec. 31, 2020 – CBS’ primetime news program 60 Minutes will feature the acclaimed podcast In the Dark in its Sunday, Jan. 3, episode. The segment will tell the story of Curtis Flowers, a man tried six times for the same crime, and the remarkable role of the APM Reports’ investigative podcast, which brought the case to national attention.
The Jan. 3 episode will be broadcast at 6:30 p.m. Central Time on the CBS Television Network and will feature interviews with members of the In the Dark team, as well as a deep look at the Flowers case and the podcast’s impact.
In the Dark’s second season contributed to the overturning of Flowers’ death row conviction. Over the course of three years and 20 podcast episodes, APM Reports journalists identified significant holes and misconduct in the investigation and prosecution of a 1996 quadruple homicide in Winona, Miss. Flowers’ most recent conviction was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in June 2019, in a decision that included reporting from the podcast.
When Flowers’ bail hearing took place in December 2019, excerpts of In the Dark were played in court. Flowers was granted bail in December, and earlier this fall, he became a free man when the State of Mississippi announced it would drop all charges and not seek a seventh trial.
The In the Dark team, which works within a larger team at the St. Paul-based APM Reports, is composed of: host and lead reporter Madeleine Baran, managing producer Samara Freemark, producer Natalie Jablonski, reporter Parker Yesko, associate producer Rehman Tungekar, data reporter Will Craft, editor Catherine Winter, senior digital editor Dave Mann, senior digital editor Andy Kruse and Chris Worthington, the editor-in-chief of APM Reports.
In the Dark’s powerful investigative reporting and riveting storytelling in its second season spurred nationwide interest in the case and has been downloaded more than 40 million times. The podcast was the first to receive a George Polk Award, and won a 2020 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, 2020 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and 2019 Peabody Award. For her work on In the Dark’s second season, Baran was named the Burton Award’s 2019 Outstanding Journalist in Law.
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About APM Reports
APM Reports, formed in November 2015, is a collection of investigative journalists and documentary producers, editors, data reporters, researchers and digital producers dedicated to producing high-quality reporting on issues that are often hidden from public view. At the heart of every APM Reports investigation lies a critical question — about powerful institutions and people, injustice and accountability – that deserves an unflinching commitment to finding answers in the public’s best interest. Visit apmreports.org for more.
About American Public Media
American Public Media® (APM) is the national programming and distribution division of American Public Media Group and reaches nearly 17 million listeners via approximately 1,000 radio stations nationwide each week. APM is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio that includes BBC World Service, Marketplace®, and the leading classical music programs in the nation. APM offers a diverse array of podcasts featuring the best in food, culture, entertainment, business and investigative journalism.
For more information on APM, visit americanpublicmedia.org.
Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio, Nationwide DMA data, Persons 12+, average of Fall ’19 and Spring ’20.