The university’s student-produced newscast was recognized with one of the most prestigious journalism awards in the country, an Edward R. Murrow Award, for its coverage surrounding last year’s government shutdown.

Late on the night of Nov. 12, 2025, the Temple Update newsroom was still buzzing.  

Just hours earlier, major developments broke in Harrisburg and Washington: Governor Josh Shapiro signed a budget agreement ending a four-month stalemate, and later President Donald Trump signed his own agreement ending the longest government shutdown in American history. Newsrooms across Pennsylvania scrambled to build packages around the breaking news, and Temple Update was no different. 

Earlier this month, the hard work paid off, and Temple Update was recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Video Newscast, one of the most prestigious journalism awards in the country. 

“We have long known, based on what employers have told us, that Temple Update was among the best college newscasts in the country,” said David Boardman, dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication, which oversees TUTV. “To have professional judges from across the nation validate that, and choose us as No. 1, is a great tribute to our students and to the professors who prepare them so well. The Murrow Award is truly the top honor in the field.” 

The Edward R. Murrow Awards have been given out by the Radio Television Digital News Association annually since 1971, but this year’s award marks the first time that Temple has been recognized.  

“What makes this award different and meaningful is it’s not just recognition for some technical excellence, but the Murrow name represents integrity, ethics and journalism as a public service,” said Joe Schreiber, general manager of TUTV. “Those are exactly the values we want our students to carry with them into their careers.”  

Temple Update is TUTV's live weekly 30-minute newscast. Started in 1988, the show is produced entirely by students, and it airs Thursday mornings on cable TV throughout the Philadelphia region and streams online.   

“The stuff that we do on Thursdays is equal to any noon newscast in this market that you’ll see,” said Kristina Hammerschmidt, KLN ’12, faculty executive producer of Temple Update and assistant professor of media studies and production at Klein. “We’re covering hard news. We’re live at the airport. We’re live on the scene reporting what’s going on.”  

It was Hammerschmidt’s idea to submit Temple Update’s Nov. 13, 2025 newscast for a Murrow consideration this year. As a Klein and Temple Update alum who has enjoyed a distinguished career in broadcast television, Hammerschmidt knew the newscast was on par with the highest industry standards. 

“Within the time span of 24 hours we got the news that the U.S. government signed a budget and then so did the PA government,” said Charly Schultz, KLN ’26, who served as supervising producer of the award-winning newscast and is now a producer for Gulf Coast News in Fort Myers, Florida. “We were planning to lead our show with the ongoing government shutdown. I remember that Wednesday night during pre-production we were scattered and asking, ‘how can we still make this work?’”  

But by 10 a.m. Thursday morning, Schultz and the team had reworked their show and were ready to go live. The broadcast opened with a live shot of the White House courtesy of CNN. 

“You could be working on a show Wednesday night, have it all ready to go, and then something happens and the entire show has to change. That was one of those times,” said Sean Graveley, KLN ’26, director and technical director of the Nov. 13 newscast. “When stuff like that happens, you have to scramble in the morning, but we handled it really well. The producers are all really talented, incredible people. They got everything ready so that we could have a great show, and that’s exactly what we did.” 

After teasing the news in Harrisburg and Washington, the newscast shifted to the Philadelphia International Airport, where student reporter Lauren Haley Morris, KLN ’26, was reporting live on how the government shutdown affected air travel. 

“People were feeling a lot of pressure from the shutdown—TSA agents weren't being paid. It was cool to be able to tell that perspective of the story and to go live from the airport alongside every other station in the city,” said Morris, who’s now a reporter for 13News Now in Norfolk, Virginia. “That’s what made that newscast special, that we had all our ducks in a row and everyone was really cooperative.”  

The Edward R. Murrow Award is the latest accolade for Temple Update, which has previously won multiple NATAS College Student Production awards and a Broadcast Education Association award. Temple Update has also produced many accomplished broadcast and journalism professionals, including ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi, FOX29’s Chris O’Connell and 6abc’s Beccah Hendrickson. 

Winning the Edward R. Murrow Award is a full-circle moment for Hammerschmidt, who served as a student producer for the first-ever live Temple Update newscast in 2011. Prior to then, the show was pre-recorded. 

“Temple Update is what it is today because of the people that came before me, including Betsy Leebron Tutelman, Rick Beardsley, Peter Jaroff and Paul Gluck,” Hammerschmidt said. “We are covering stories that actually impact the community and our students. To be recognized and honored for that is my proudest Temple moment, even going back to my time here as a student.” 

And for the students who made the winning newscast happen, the Edward R. Murrow Award is now part of their lasting Temple legacy. 

“Temple Update is an award-winning program, but we never had a Murrow,” Schultz said. “You always think about how you can leave your mark on a program like this, especially one that’s so close to my heart, so I’m really glad that this is something I got to be a part of.” 

Temple Update will air live Thursday mornings at 10:30 a.m. on Verizon (Channel 45) and Comcast (Channel 50). It’s also available for streaming via the TUTV app on Apple, Roku and Fire TV devices.