On the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ founding, a 10-month ABC News investigation into the murder of young volunteer Kate Puzey in Africa uncovered a shocking, systematic failure to protect Peace Corps volunteers who were victims of sexual abuse or whistleblowers who tried to report it. The ABC News report led to historic changes, including a new law designed to protect Peace Corps volunteers, and requires the Peace Corp to hire victims’ advocates and improve training.
NYPD Intelligence Division
The New York Police Department, in close collaboration with the CIA and with nearly no outside oversight, developed clandestine spying programs that monitored and catalogued daily life in Muslim communities, from where people ate and shopped to where they worked and prayed. AP’s reporting led three dozen lawmakers in Washington to call for House Judiciary Committee and Justice Department investigations.
Top Secret America
“Top Secret America” described a massive expansion of government created in response to 9/11 that has become so large, unwieldy and secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or how many programs exist within it. The two-year-long project resulted in congressional investigations, a review of all intelligence programs requested by the Defense Secretary, and the CIA’s reduction of contract workforce.
Sponsored Bills in Sacramento
Karen de Sá’s series provided the first comprehensive examination of the influences of outside interests in California lawmaking. As a result of her investigation, legislative leaders proposed rule changes, and outside groups are pushing for mandatory disclosure of all meetings between lawmakers and lobbyists and greater disclosure of campaign contributions from sponsors. There is also a ballot measure to repeal the term-limit law.
Betting Against the American Dream – The Wall Street Money Machine
ProPublica, in collaboration with NPR’s Planet Money and Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life, revealed how the recession of 2008 was significantly deepened by the machinations of Merrill Lynch, Citibank and Magnetar, a little-known hedge fund. As a result, the SEC is investigating deals referenced in the series, and new rules are being implemented from the financial reform bill
Behind the Bail Bond System
In a three-part series examining bail in the United States, National Public Radio’s Laura Sullivan illuminated the powerful bail-bond industry and found that it hurts defendants, their victims and taxpayers. NPR’s reporting has been cited in county commission meetings in Florida and in the Statehouses in Virginia, Florida and North Carolina.
Breach of Faith
An investigation by TheLos Angeles Times exposed widespread corruption in the tiny city of Bell, leading to multiple investigations, eight arrests, multimillion-dollar refunds for taxpayers and greater transparency about government salaries across California.
Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas
After a two-year investigation, including the review of 2.9 million records, the Sun‘s five-part multi-platform series identified the preventable infections and injuries taking place in Las Vegas hospitals. Allen and Richards set out to impose transparency on Las Vegas hospitals so they would be held accountable. The multimedia presentation of their findings resulted in consumers having access to quality-of-care data that will help them make more-informed decisions.
“This extraordinary piece of work demonstrates the power of teaming high quality investigative journalism with imaginative and elegant multimedia representation. It is the future of news,” said Alex S. Jones, Director of the Shorenstein Center.
Death on the Rails
Reporters from The Washington Post uncovered repeated lapses in safety in Washington’s Metro subway system and a systemic breakdown in safety oversight. As a result of the Post series, the Metro has instituted sweeping reorganization; there has been a congressional demand for reform, and in a historic step, the federal government announced it would move to take over regulation of subways and light rail systems across the nation.
Law and Disorder
ProPublica’s A.C. Thompson, in collaboration with journalists from The Nation, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and PBS’s Frontline, exposed the existence of white vigilante violence and questions about the New Orleans Police Department’s use of deadly force days after Hurricane Katrina. This series provoked an FBI investigation resulting in a federal grand jury examining police conduct. These hearings are expected to yield indictments.
