John Baynard

A two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Award in Journalism, John Baynard is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and photojournalist based in Boston. The direction of his work has predominantly dealt with social issues with a sharp focus on homelessness and refugees.

His introduction to journalism was delivering newspapers for The Charlotte Observer at the age of sixteen. Four years later he started work for WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina as a news cameraman and editor, while also working at The Charlotte Observer as a sports photographer. He went to work in Boston at WBZ-TV as chief cinematographer and editor in the Public Affairs Department before going freelance as a cinematographer, producer, director, editor, and photojournalist.

Over the past forty years, Baynard has worked for PBS, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and various broadcast and independent documentary projects:

His work includes working as a director of photography on PBS Frontline documentaries that include Murder on the Rio San Juan, When Cops Go Bad, The Noriega Connection, Don King Unauthorized, The Old Man and the Storm, and Secret Daughter (director, co-producer, and cinematographer).

He worked as the producer, cinematographer, and editor on ABC News Nightline documentaries that include Rick Pitrone: 1958-1994, Maine Country Doctor, Street Doctors, and Making a Difference in Southern Sudan.

Other work ranges from director of photography on the PBS American Experience documentaries; Henry Ford, Walt Disney, The Gilded Age, and Billy Graham to field story cameraman for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Through his non-profit World Witness Project, Baynard has produced, shot and edited stories for Global Post about life in Myanmar under the military junta, reports for Refugees International about internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and stories of children affected by the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka for UNICEF.

Since 2011, he has taught visual storytelling and multimedia journalism in the Journalism Department at the Boston University College of Communication.

Additional awards include: twenty-two New England Emmys, five Boston Press Photographer Association’s TV Photographer of the Year Awards, a National Emmy, and a DuPont-Columbia Award.