Lennon's 1995 film, THE BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE, was invited to the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival. His 1994 film, TABLOID TRUTH, co-written with Richard Ben Cramer, was one of the most talked-about news documentaries of that year: "A rip-roaring, first-rate, top-drawer edition of FRONTLINE...says things that need to be said, shows things that need to be shown and does both uncommonly well, " wrote Tom Shales in The Washington Post. Lennon's PBS election special THE CHOICE '92 reached some fifteen million viewers and was hailed by Variety as "a marvelous two-hour voyage...[that] accomplishes something the spin doctors and pundits have fallen short of: it shines a light into the heart of each man's character."
Since 1987, Lennon has divided his time between the two major documentary showcases on public television, the contemporary news strand, FRONTLINE, and the acclaimed history series, THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Lennon's films on THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE include DEMON RUM (1988) and THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE (1994), winner of the 1994 Peabody Award. Recent films include "The Irish in America: Long Journey Home" (1998, PBS mini-series), "Jefferson's Blood" (for "Frontline", 2000), "The Hurricane of '38" (for "The American Experience", 2001), "Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives" (2003, HBO), 3 episodes of "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience" (2003, PBS), "Julia's Story" (2005, TV: producer), THE BLOOD OF THE YINGZHOU DISTRICT (2006, producer), and 4 episodes of "The Supreme Court" (2007, TV).
Before establishing his own production company, Lennon worked in the Closeup Division of ABC News for nearly a decade. His 1986 report on illiteracy, "At A Loss For Words", with Peter Jennings as correspondent, was at the time it aired one of the most-watched documentaries in the network's history. From 1984 through 1987, Lennon served as a writer, director, and producer for both the Closeup series and the ABC newsmagazine, "20/20." During that time he was honored with the Christopher Award, the Humanitas, the Janus and many more. His directorial debut was the 1984 ABC Report, "To Save Our Schools, To Save Our Children," was described by The New York Times as "best of the year...the clear winner among documentaries this season."
Lennon traveled widely for ABC News as a writer and associate producer; assignments included the Soviet Union, South America, and numerous stints in the Middle East. He is a graduate of Yale University.
Nominated for Achievement in Documentary Features 1995: THE BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE, Producer (w. Michael Epstein)
Best Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects 2006: THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT (w. Ruby Yang)
2 nominations, 1 Award