James Edwards

Most recently James has been a news producer for the HBO late night series Game Theory with Bomani Jones. Before that he hosted, reported, and co-produced the investigative audio documentary Un(re)solved (FRONTLINE), a National Murrow Award winner and a Narrative Nonfiction Official Selection at the 2021 Tribeca Festival. Un(re)solved explores a U.S. Department of Justice effort to investigate over 150 unsolved civil rights era killings. It is one part of an Emmy-winning and Peabody-nominated multiplatform project in which James served as one of its lead reporters. While at FRONTLINE, he also co-produced the FRONTLINE Dispatch and its 2020 Covering Coronavirus series, which garnered nominations from both the Ambies (The Podcast Academy) and Webby Awards.

His past work includes producing and reporting roles (TV, radio, digital) at WBEZ Chicago, Public Radio International, WGBH, and the newsmagazine Need To Know on PBS. Working in WBEZ’s content development unit, James was the lead producer for the critically acclaimed audio series 16 Shots, a collaboration with the Chicago Tribune about the police shooting of Laquan McDonald. He later developed and produced the narrative comedy South Side Stories. Inspired by the TV show South Side, the WBEZ and Comedy Central partnership marked the first collaboration between a public media station and a major cable network. In 2020 the Chicago Headline Club (the city’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists) honored South Side Stories with three Peter Lisagor Awards and seven nominations. The series, along with 16 Shots, also earned international recognition from the Publisher Podcast Awards in London.

In addition to his journalism work James has been a research consultant on TV, film, and documentary projects, including the feature films Candyman (2021) and The Good Nurse (2022), the HBO drama Lovecraft Country, and various nonfiction series for A+E Networks.