Toronto Star Podcast Nominated for Peabody Award
TORONTO, April 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Toronto Star’s podcast Left To Their Own Devices is a finalist for a prestigious Peabody Award for Public Service which honours broadcast excellence.
Left To Their Own Devices is a 10-part investigative podcast that explores the profound impact of social media and technology on youth. The series is led and driven by the voices of young people, including Host Ava Smithing, who said she feels she lost years of her life to an eating disorder that was catalyzed by social media.
The Toronto Star partnered with Paradigm Productions and McGill University on the series which investigates how social media algorithms fuel obsessive use and addiction, push children toward self-harm, dieting content and violent pornography at younger ages. The podcast also documents the explosion of online exploitation, including the financial sextortion of minors that has led to dozens of teen suicides since 2021.
The series includes original investigative reporting and interviews with affected youth, parents who have lost children, addiction experts, neuroscientists and lawyers suing some of the world’s leading social media companies. It also explores solutions led by young people demanding change.
On the day of the nomination, the Toronto Star released a new episode of Left To Their Own Devices. This bonus episode features a conversation that took place March 31 at Columbia University, between Smithing and Jonathan Haidt, author of the book Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, often cited as inspiration to Australia’s recent law which restricts social media use of minors under 16 years old.
The Toronto Star podcast received the Peabody Award nomination by unanimous vote from its Board of Jurors. The final winners from all categories of the Peabody Award will be announced on April 23 and the 86th annual Peabody Awards ceremony will honour the nominees and winners in Los Angeles on May 31.
Nicole MacIntyre, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star, commented: “The Peabody Award nomination is a huge honour for our team who continue to fearlessly report on the profound impact social media has on young people and children. Left to Their Own Devices investigates the powerful corporations behind social media platforms, their algorithms, and reveals devastating harm. This is public service journalism for an entire generation.”
Ava Smithing, Host of the Star’s Left To Their Own Devices, said: "We are grateful and honored to receive a Peabody nomination. We created Left to Their Own Devices to shine a light on the experiences of young people online. We believe these stories deserve to be heard, and more importantly, to be believed. A Peabody nomination validates our work and recognizes the gravity of the harm these platforms inflict on young people. This recognition makes our team's work and the fight for safer online community spaces harder to ignore."
Contact:
Melanie Karalis, Toronto Star public relations
mkaralis@torstar.ca
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