Kelly to receive Sorensen Award for Distinguished Nebraska Journalism

William Kelly, a Lincoln senior news producer, will be honored with the Thomas C. Sorensen Award for Distinguished Nebraska Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communication April 8. Kelly's documentary, "CSI On Trial," follows one of the most controversial crimes in Nebraska history involving two innocent men facing the death penalty for a murder they didn't commit.

Kelly oversees development, research and writing of television documentaries and radio news features for NET Television and Radio, Nebraska's public broadcasting service.

In choosing Kelly's documentary, Sorensen award judges said "A few officers forgot the basic tenet of U.S. justice -- a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. State lawmakers should look hard at this program and take notes. It points up a need to toughen state law to protect suspects from questionable police practices."

In NET's letter of nomination, news director Dennis Kellogg said "all other reporting on the case, local and national, asked the question we were driven to answer: how could a homicide investigation go so wrong?"

In the best traditions of American journalism -- keeping government honest -- Kelly attended trials, interviewed participants and sifted through thousands of pages of documents. His research demonstrates the justice system's struggle to find the truth.

For the first time, the documentary tells the full story of how two innocent men were targeted for the murder of a Murdock couple. NET's research sheds light on the work of poorly trained detectives and overworked law enforcement, an under-qualified polygraph operator, and an attention-seeking crime scene investigator. The same case had been covered in a sensational manner by network news magazine programs.

The documentary was broadcast throughout Nebraska in November and is available on NET's website in a special section dedicated to three documentaries about crime scene investigation. It also provided material for a three-part investigative reporting series on NET Radio.

Kelly's past programs have looked at the politics of the 1960s, the problem of under-aged binge drinking, the power and beauty of steam locomotives, a visit to modern day Cuba and the early, historic days of television. Kelly previously worked at WOWT-TV in Omaha, Neb., KARD-TV in Wichita, Kan., and WLFI-TV in Lafayette, Ind. He is a past president of the Omaha Press Club and a longtime member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich., and graduated from Purdue University in 1978. Kelly's honors include two nominations for regional Emmys as well as awards from the Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcasters Association, the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, United Press International, the Radio and Television News Directors Association and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Sorensen, a 1947 graduate of the University of Nebraska, established the annual award in 1995. Sorensen began his journalism career in Lincoln, first as an assistant night editor at the Lincoln State Journal, then as the director and commentator on KLMS radio. He joined the U.S. Information Agency in 1951 and was assigned to agencies in Beirut, Baghdad, Cairo and Washington, D.C. Sorensen was appointed deputy director of the agency and it was there that he received the Jaycees Award in 1962 as "One of the 10 Outstanding Young Men in the Federal Government." In 1968 Sorensen was deputy manager of Robert F. Kennedy's California presidential primary campaign. In 1972 he began work as an investment adviser in New York City with the Advest Group Inc., a regional securities brokerage firm. Sorensen was associated with the Capital Group Cos. of Los Angeles, one of the nation's largest investment management firms, from 1980 until his retirement in 1996. The Virginia Institute of Political Leadership at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia was named for Thomas C. Sorensen shortly before he died in 1997.

WRITER: Marilyn Hahn