London Foreign Press Association honors journalism professor Robert Hodierne's work on My Lai documentary

The London Foreign Press Association recognized University of Richmond journalism professor Robert Hodierne, along with a team of journalists and producers at the BBC Radio World Service, on November 25 with the association’s top award in radio. The award, which was presented by Charles, Prince of Wales, was for a one-hour radio documentary, My Lai Tapes.

In recognition of the 40th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, My Lai Tapes used never before released archive recordings from the U.S. Army’s investigation of the massacre, which was called “The Peers Inquiry.” The recording included testimony by some of the soliders who killed unarmed women and children. The report also included interviews with surviving victims—in all, 504 innocent Vietnamese villagers were slain.

Hodierne is a veteran military journalist who began his career as a freelance photographer and the youngest, fully accredited foreign journalist to cover the Vietnam War.

Two years ago, London-based journalist Celina Dunlop began investigating the whereabouts of the 40-year-old tapes, which feature U.S. soliders admitting to raping and killing hundreds of civilians. Because of Hodierne’s background covering the Vietnam War, the BBC asked if he wanted to work with Dunlop’s team to produce a documentary distilling the 400+ hours of recorded testimonies.

Hodierne worked on the script with producer Rosie Goldsmith and voiced the documentary, which aired on Radio 4, BBC’s domestic radio service, on the 40th anniversary of the massacre. It was later broken into two, half-hour segments and aired on BBC Radio’s World Service. The program is now available for listening online in two parts.

Posted December 4, 2008