'Lost,' YouTube win Peabody Awards

ATHENS, Ga., April 1 (UPI) -- "Lost," "The Giant Pool of Money," "This American Life," "Black Magic" and YouTube were among the winners of Peabody Awards announced Wednesday.

The winners of the 68th annual Peabody Awards were announced by The University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best in electronic media for 2008, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery on The University of Georgia Campus.

"The works recognized by the Peabody Board this year not only reflect great diversity of content and genre, but also true technical innovation and the varied roles of new distribution systems," Peabody Director Horace Newcomb said in a statement. "The list of winners this year clearly indicates a changing media environment that will continue to require judgment and evaluation through the Peabody Awards process."

Among the 36 new Peabody winners are NBC's Beijing Olympics opening ceremony; CNN's coverage of the 2008 presidential primary campaigns and debates; the HBO comedy series "Entourage;" the PBS documentary "Depression: Out of the Shadows;" The New York Times Web site and Korean Broadcasting System's film "Jungle Fish."

Other Peabody recipients include National Public Radio's "China: The Earthquake of Chengdu;" WWL-TV's NOAH housing program investigation; ABC's "Hopkins" and "Saturday Night Live's" political satire in 2008.

HBO's miniseries "John Adams" and documentary "Hear and Now," as well as PBS's "

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill" and "Independent Lens: King Corn" and AMC's drama "Breaking Bad" also won Peabody awards.