Stories that matter -- Pulitzer prizes

2010

Pulitzer prizes announced

http://www.mefeedia.com/news/30510987

http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Feature-Photography

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/washington-post-wins-four-pulitzers-new-york-times-gets-three/

The prize for public service went to the tiny Bristol Herald Courier of southwestern Virginia, circulation 29,000, for revealing that many energy companies failed to pay required royalties on natural gas drilling, and that the royalties that were paid were not reaching the local people who deserved them.

http://www2.tricities.com/tri/special_sections/mineral_rights/

http://www.propublica.org/feature/the-deadly-choices-at-memorial-826

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html

2009 and earlier


http://info.vassar.edu/news/2009-2010/091116-urbanstu-berzon-pulitzertalk.html


http://www.pulitzer.org/press_releases

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/apr/21/sun-wins-pulitzer-prize/

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/topics/construction-deaths/

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/30/construction-deaths/ 

http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Public-Service

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=61526

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/16/us/town-gets-clean-water-as-paper-gets-a-pulitzer.html

http://www.wdnweb.com/our_newspaper/about_us/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/invisible/deaths5.htm 

http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/5747 

http://www.gannett.com/go/newswatch/2002/may/claxton.htm 

Nellie Bly

Seymour Hersch



Woodward and Bernstein

The Smoking Gun
Any fan of researching police and court records should become familiar with The Smoking Gun

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/

Sample lede

Steve Spangler begins his schtick by coaching a woman who stares into a 7 foot long, 3 foot wide vat of 2,500 pounds worth of a sloshing corn starch and water mixture. At Spangler’s cue of “Go, Go, Go!” the woman runs on top of the mixture. She wildly stomps atop of it, punishing the surface of the mix with the soles of her feet. She then scampers to the other side, surprisingly clean of the sloppy mixture, and extends her arms as if to say “Tada!”

Good stuff.

Just some tightening to think about:

Steve Spangler begins his schtick by coaching a woman AS SHE stares into a 7 foot long, 3 foot wide vat of 2,500 pounds of corn starch and water.
“Go, Go, Go!” he yells, and the woman runs across.
She wildly stomps atop of it, punishing the surface of the mix with the soles of her feet. She then scampers to the other side, her feet surprisingly clean and extends her arms as if to say “Tada!”

Once you have captured the moment like this, the trick becomes whether you can tell the story with even fewer words. Fewer words, well chosen, have a bigger impact.

New York Times stories

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/health/25warrior.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/us/25vegas.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/world/middleeast/25saudi.html

Weighing the Evidence on Exercise

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html

Science writing exercises

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/88996/june-21-2007/sign-off---goodbye-to-mr--wizard

http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/

Reporting advice

My general advice would be to be open to questions that come up during the interview, and very often the best question to ask is "Why?" Look for why questions, when possible. They lead you to even better interviews, better stories.

Another question: Tell me about where you were when you discovered X. Get them to give you details before some big event occurred.

Ask your sources if they know other people they recommend that you talk to.

Last question: Are there other questions that you think need to be asked? Or ask: What else should people know about this?

Upstate Local Journalism Center

this is at http://wxxi.org/about/jobs/UNYLJC.html

WXXI (Rochester), along with WNED (Buffalo), WRVO (Oswego/Syracuse),
WSKG (Binghamton) and WMHT (Albany) are partnering to create Upstate
New York's Local Journalism Center. Together they will hire a total
of five additional reporters, one at each station. WXXI will also hire an editor and a
managing facilitator.

The Upstate Local Journalism Center will focus on "The Innovation
Trail." The Center's extensive multi-media reporting will help the
public gain a better understanding of the impact of investment in
research and technology projects across the region, the ways that
colleges, universities and medical centers are working to create
opportunities in emerging technologies, and other industry efforts to
transition from a manufacturing base to a knowledge economy. Working
across the region, this initiative will allow reporters to move
beyond traditional media to provide in-depth coverage with a
high-degree of community engagement and involvement.

This is a grant driven, two-year project with the possibility of continued sustainability.