This series revealed the harsh conditions under which Chinese workers assembling iPhones and iPads live and work; the low pay and high turnover at Apple’s retail stores; and the lengths to which Apple went to reduce its tax bill. As a result of the investigation, Chinese working conditions and salaries have improved, Apple has announced it will invest money in U.S.-based manufacturing and Congress opened an investigation into technology company tactics to
reduce taxes.
The Los Angeles Times made public thousands of files documenting sexual abuse of Boy Scouts by their troop leaders, resulting in reforms that will help ensure the protection of children. The Boy Scouts of America has launched a comprehensive review of the files, with a promise to report to law enforcement any cases not previously disclosed. The Scouts also apologized to victims of abuse and offered to pay for their counseling.
The State Integrity Investigation created a tool that is being used by news organizations all over the nation to hold government accountable. The collaboration was a data-driven analysis of every state’s laws and practices that deter corruption and promote accountability and openness, thus providing local news organizations a means of investigating what is happening in their state. The results include accelerated reform in government and an increase in disclosure requirements in many states.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s series on irregularities in standardized testing revealed that pressure for ever-higher scores led to apparent cheating by teachers and school administrators across the nation. The reporting, based on analysis of tens of thousands of test results, initiated a national conversation about the long-term effects of the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
The Chicago Tribune’s investigative series revealed how a deceptive campaign by the chemical and tobacco industries brought toxic flame retardants into people’s homes and bodies, despite the fact that the dangerous chemicals don’t work as promised. As a result of the investigation, the U.S. Senate revived toxic chemical reform legislation and California moved to revamp the rules responsible for the presence of dangerous chemicals in furniture sold nationwide.
Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve under the Freedom of Information Act, won an unprecedented release of records and then used sophisticated database reporting to reveal how the U.S. central bank dished $1.2 trillion in bailout loans to Wall Street’s biggest banks. Bloomberg’s lawsuit led Congress to create new disclosure rules in the Dodd-Frank law. The suit spurred the central bank to greater transparency and revealed the extreme extent of the 2008 bank crisis
An analysis of presidential pardon recommendations made by the Justice Department during George W. Bush’s administration shows that whites were nearly four times as likely as minorities to succeed; applicants with the support of a member of Congress were three times as likely to receive a pardon. These findings prompted the Justice Department to launch a review and ignited a debate about why pardons are underused, how to eliminate bias and how best to reshape the entire system.
Over the past decade, more than 1,200 developmentally disabled people in the care of New York State died for reasons other than natural causes. And no one questioned why state workers who beat or sexually abused the developmentally disabled were allowed to keep their jobs. This report led Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to force out the two top state officials in charge of care for the developmentally disabled, the state moved to fire 130 employees found to have abused or neglected patients in their care, and several other changes.
KHOU-TV’s I-team discovered public drinking water so contaminated with radiation, the underground plumbing it traveled through was turned away by scrap yards as “too hot” to recycle. Radiation lab test
results for every community in Texas were wrongfully lowered, leaving consumers in the dark about their true health risks. After this report, many of the most radioactive “water wells” were taken offline, while grassroots pressure from citizens at town hall meetings and scientists from around the country forced other widespread changes.
“Poisoned Places” exposed the regulatory failures and political forces that cause millions of Americas to continue breathing unsafe air and, for the first time, publicly revealed the EPA’s internal “watch list” of
the nation’s most troublesome air polluters. This report triggered immediate enforcement action in two states, a push for openness by the EPA and an avalanche of coverage across the U.S.