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First Pulitzer Awarded To an Online News Site

Posted by kdawson on from the et-maintenant-le-poulet-surprise dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Columbia Spectator reports that ProPublica, an independent, non-profit online newsroom, is the first online organization to win a Pulitzer Prize. Propublica reporter Sheri Fink won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for her story about the deadly choices faced at one New Orleans hospital in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The winning article was published in the New York Times Magazine and on ProPublica.org. Pulitzer Prize administrator Sig Gissler says that ProPublica's model represents a mode of journalism that will become increasingly influential, as fewer resources for investigative journalism remain available at the disposal of news outlets. In addition to ProPublica, another online entry won for the first time in the category of cartooning — Mark Fiore was awarded a Pulitzer for his self-syndicated animated cartoons, which appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle website."

15 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Fiore's Flash Hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I enjoy Fiore's work, but the site is flash hell. Nobody in iPad land is going to see it....

    1. Re:Fiore's Flash Hell by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I enjoy Fiore's work

      I enjoyed his original works back in the day when he primarily pointed out the absurdities of our political system and the leaders thereof. Then he started actively pushing his own political viewpoint and ceased being funny. Jon Stewart has done much the same thing in the last year or so, though he still has occasional moments of genius. I forgive him for his political proselytizing when he roasts the media, particularly the cable media and it's 24 hour news cycle.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:Fiore's Flash Hell by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Other than being pro-healthcare reform I don't think Stewart's pushed any particular political viewpoint this year. Frequently it seems like he has to really stretch when he skewers Obama and friends, but I think that, other than Biden, that's mostly because Obama and his circle don't seem to run their mouths the way others have and therefore just aren't such easy targets.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  2. The flip side of the coin by wwwrench · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Propublica is pretty awesome, and their recent piece about Magnetar, and the market crash is a great example of that. http://www.propublica.org/feature/the-magnetar-trade-how-one-hedge-fund-helped-keep-the-housing-bubble-going And with the recent videos released by wikileaks of the US military mowing down civilians, it seems more and more, it is alternative media which is doing real journalism. Newspapers claim they are loosing money because of internet news and thus can't afford to do investigative reporting. Propublica and wikileaks are the other side of that coin.

    --

    Deconstruct the State
    1. Re:The flip side of the coin by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 3, Funny

      And with the recent videos released by wikileaks of the US military mowing down civilians, it seems more and more, it is alternative media which is doing real journalism.

      Yeah, members of the, 'official,' news agencies like Reuters are just running around getting themselves shot by helicopters. Slackers.

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      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    2. Re:The flip side of the coin by nedlohs · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Did they not learn that reporters are supposed to report the news not be the news. Damn celebrity culture!

  3. Another first for the Pulitzers by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Somewhat off-topic, but I'd like to note another first from this year's Pulitzers: Gene Weingarten became the only journalist in history to win the Pulitzer in feature writing twice. The award this year was for his piece Fatal Distraction, the previous for Pearls Before Breakfast. Both are very well done (obviously; they both won the Pulitzer), but in a completely different style each time.

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    1. Re:Another first for the Pulitzers by CorporateSuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The award this year was for his piece Fatal Distraction

      I just read that for the first time. Thanks for ruining my day, jerk!

      --
      I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
  4. National Enquirer by prakslash · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Another closely watched entry in this year's competition was National Enquirer's outing of John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter.
    I guess the Enquirer didn't win. Othewise, it would have been another first - a Pulitzer awarded to a tabloid.

  5. Pamela Jones? by e9th · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sheri Fink certainly deserves recognition for her compelling story, but surely PJ over at Groklaw also deserves recognition from the mainstream media for her amazing work over the years.

    1. Re:Pamela Jones? by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Didn't we just see a story about a week ago about Groklaw's content being requested for archiving in the Library of Congress? I'd say that's some pretty good recognition....

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      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    2. Re:Pamela Jones? by ZG-Rules · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, she doesn't. She's not in this league.

      I understand what you are saying and I feel passionate about digital rights, but the choice of subject and telling of that ProPublica article are far far more important to Humanity than copyright law will ever be. Please feel free to ask Pamela if she agrees with that, but I think she might.

      I'm a dispassionate geek. I understand logical and pragmatic choices. That's what I trained to do and to be honest, I'm extremely good at it.

      This story still moved me.

      I don't think I would be able to make the life and death choices outlined in the Article. I honestly hope to the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster that I will *never* have to make such choices. My significant other is a Dr - I don't know how she makes choices that are even slightly related to this, but thankfully I will never have to make them.

      I understand that PJ has done fantastic work, but exactly how many people died for that? None? OK, lets move on then.

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      Sam

  6. They should have given it to Wikileaks... by AlgorithMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They should have given it to Wikileaks...

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    The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
  7. Michael Yon by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 2, Informative

    Should have gotten a Pulitzer for his reporting and photography in Afghanistan.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  8. Except not quite by ubernostrum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Unless you carefully restrict your definition of "online" to rule out any online publication owned or operated by a company which also happens to have non-online ventures, this doesn't hold up: Politifact, a political fact-checking site, won a Pulitzer last year for fact-checking the 2008 US federal election campaigns. Maybe you can make the argument that, because it's operated by a company which also prints papers, it's not really "online", but given that the whole operation was on the Web (and utterly dependent on the Web to work) I'd have a hard time accepting that.