Dayton Daily News series on Peace Corps Safety and Security is finalist for 2004 Goldsmith Prize that promotes more effective and ethical government
Shorenstein Center announces finalists for 2004 Goldsmith Prize
The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --
An investigative piece examining violence against Peace Corps volunteers and a look at questionable practices by a major environmental group are finalists for a $25,000 investigative reporting prize that promotes more effective and ethical government.
The entries were chosen by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, which Wednesday announced the six finalists for the Center's 2004 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
The prize honors journalism that promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government by disclosing excessive secrecy, impropriety and mismanagement, or instances of particularly commendable government performance.
"This year's finalists are a superb cross section of that special kind of investigative reporting that we seek to honor," said Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center. "We look for stories that have a real impact, and these finalists all have muzzle velocity."
This year's finalists are:
- Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood; "The Dayton Daily News," for "Casualties of Peace," a look at the Peace Corp and violence against its volunteers.
- Staff of the Gannett New Jersey Newspapers; for "Profiting from Public Service," The Asbury Park Press and six other newspapers from Gannett, which revealed how New Jersey legislators made millions from their part-time public jobs.
- Chuck Neubauer, Richard T. Cooper and Judy Pasternak of The Los Angeles Times for "The Senators' Sons," an expose about United States senators who profited from special interest groups.
- David Barstow and Lowell Bergman of The New York Times and Frontline for "Dangerous Business: When Workers Die," which found that hundreds of employers were responsible for their employees' deaths because they failed to implement basic safety rules.
- Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway of The Washington Post, for "Big Green," which exposed questionable land deals, partnerships with major polluters and other wayward practices by The Nature Conservancy.
- Phil Williams and Bryan Staples, WTVF-TV, Nashville, Tenn., for "Friends in High Places: Perks of Power," which examined the ethical conduct of Tennessee public officials, including the governor, state lawmakers and the president of the University of Tennessee.
The Shorenstein Center, based at Harvard's JFK School of Government, is dedicated to exploring the intersection of press, politics and public policy in theory and practice, and strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars.
The presentation of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, along with the Goldsmith Book Prizes and the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism, will be given on March 17.
