As a journalism junkie, I paid attention when the 2006 Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday (you can see the list at Romenesko) and despite my cynicism about the effectiveness or direction of the American press, I found there's a lot of good journalism being honored.
- Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Biloxi (Mississippi) Sun Herald shared the Public Service prize for their above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty work in the midst of Hurricane Katrina. It's amazing stuff to me, the lengths the two papers went to do keep publishing and to keep their readers informed.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service shared the National Reporting prize for their work in exposing corrupt Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (Republican, of course: now serving over 8 years as a guest of Federal Department of Prisons for $2.4 million worth of bribe-taking). The two news organizations shared their award category with the New York Times, which won for their work on exposing Bush's domestic spying program.
- The Times also won International Reporting (for features on China's legal system) and for columnist Nicholas Kristof. Kind of help makes up for employing world-class suck-up Judith Miller all that time.
- The Washington Post picked up 4, including Investigative Reporting (for probing Jack Abramoff) and Beat Reporting (for coverage of the US's secret "black site" prisons and other aspects of the "War on Terror"). Kind of help makes up for still employing their astonishingly incompetent ombudsman Deborah Howell and the doesn't-bother-to-read-his-own-newspaper's-stories editorial director Fred Hiatt
What really got my attention, however, were the awards for Feature Writing and Feature Photography: both went for the same story in Denver's Rocky Mountain News. I recommend them highly.
Words: http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/
Pictures: http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/slideshow/slideshow.cfm?type=DEFAULT&ID=041706fs&NUM=1
I looked at the photos, then tried to read the story, but I couldn't get past the first page without weeping. All I can say, is "Fuck you, George Bush".
- Cal
