ProPublica Wins Pulitzer Prize
By Priyanka Roy Chowdhury, Gaea News NetworkTuesday, April 13, 2010
COLUMBIA (GaeaTimes.com)- “ProPublica” this year got the Pulitzer Prize for the category of investigative reporting. This is for the first time that an online newsroom has been awarded with the most prestigious award in the field of journalism. The “ProPublica” has started the non-profit organization just two years ago and has been able to reach new heights within a short span. “ProPublica” was rewarded with the award for bringing out an investigative report that tried to find out the reason of the controversial death of people in the New Orleans medical center after the Hurricane Katrina. The reporter, Sheri Fink tried to find how the decisions taken by the doctors of the hospital had affected the death toll in the center.
The “ProPublica” collaborated with the “New York Times” for the investigative reporting. The “New York Times” co-published the article and is the first of its kind collaboration that has been recognized by the Pulitzer. Announcing the Pulitzer Prize for the investigative reporting category, the administrator of the prize, Sig Gissler said that in the coming years more of such collaborations will be seen in the field of journalism.
This year the Pulitzer Prize came up with winners who have dared to be different. The Pulitzer Prize which is considered as the top award in the field of journalism extended its horizon to encompass web journalism this year. Apart from “ProPublica,” another person from the web world got to hold the Pulitzer Prize. The editorial cartooning prize went to Mark Fiore who contributes to the website of “San Francisco Chronicle”.
