The inaugural Goldsmith Explanatory Prize for reporting on government is awarded to The Washington Post Opinions series “Who Is Government?” created by Michael Lewis.
Seven writers — Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell — were “set loose on the federal bureaucracy” and given the same brief: find a story about public service. Each piece, taken together, helped shine a light on the value of government work and the dedicated civil servants that are rarely written about or celebrated:
In “Fast and Fatal,” reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson of the San Francisco Chronicle brought to light the deadly consequences of police chases in the United States. Through meticulous research and data gathering over a year, the reporters unveiled that police chases resulted in over 3,300 deaths from 2017 through 2022, with a significant number of victims being bystanders or passengers, not the fleeing drivers. Many chases began with minor offenses rather than violent crimes, yet very few officers faced consequences for actions that led to fatalities.
A pivotal part of their research included creating a comprehensive database by compiling information from various sources such as research organizations, government data, media reports, and public records. They also identified the dangerous use of the Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT), responsible for numerous deaths, half of which were not the fleeing drivers.
The reporters’ findings prompted significant impact even before publication. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acknowledged the need to update its fatality data. The investigation spurred legislative calls for accurate data collection on police chase fatalities and inspired NYU’s Policing Project to develop national guidelines for vehicle pursuits, advocating for stricter policies and prohibitions on PIT maneuvers.
“Fast and Fatal” had a ripple effect, with media outlets and academic institutions using the Chronicle’s database to further investigate and raise awareness about pursuit fatalities. The series has been instrumental in changing perceptions and policies about police pursuits, highlighting the critical need for reform to enhance public safety and accountability.
Photo collage courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Right to Remain Secret
The two-part investigative series “Right to Remain Secret,” a collaboration between UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program and the San Francisco Chronicle, unveiled how multiple police agencies in California used secretive legal settlements to mask the misconduct of officers. The investigation followed an interview with a former police chief from Banning, California, who had reportedly dismissed officers for serious misconduct, only to have their records altered to show voluntary resignations due to clandestine agreements. This tactic allowed these officers to seek employment elsewhere without disclosing prior allegations.
Reporters Katey Rusch and Casey Smith embarked on a rigorous journey, submitting over a thousand public records requests across the state, which revealed more than 300 such “clean-record agreements.” Many settlements contained strict confidentiality terms and financial penalties for disclosure, complicating the release of records. Furthermore, the investigation exposed the misuse of the California disability pension system, with some agreements promising officers a tax-free disability retirement under suspect circumstances.
The series has sparked significant impact. Public outcry has driven California legislators to consider banning these agreements, while the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is investigating pension cases highlighted by the series for possible revocation. Multiple officers have lost their positions or face further scrutiny, and the ACLU of Southern California added the elimination of these agreements to its legislative agenda. Media outlets and experts have lauded the investigation, recognizing its groundbreaking revelations into the shielded operations within law enforcement systems.
Image used here courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ghost Tags: Inside New York City’s Black Market for Temporary License Plates
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reporter Jesse Coburn noticed a strange trend: cars with out-of-state temporary paper license plates seemed to be all over New York City. Coburn filed public records requests in New Jersey and Georgia – two states that were especially prevalent among the temporary plates in New York – and discovered that fraudsters were taking advantage of lax regulations in these states and issuing tens of thousands of temporary tags from dealerships with no other apparent business activity. Motorists in NYC used the fraudulent tags for anonymity while dodging tolls, driving without insurance, and committing serious and violent crimes. Following the publication of “Ghost Tags,” lawmakers in New Jersey passed a law reforming the state’s temporary tag system, and elected officials in Georgia and New York City also introduced legislation on the issue.
Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs
In the summer of 2022, Mississippi Today reporter Jerry Mitchell was alarmed by how often sheriffs accused of committing serious crimes managed to evade any consequences and remain in office. Mitchell and reporter Ilyssa Daly began investigating the state’s sheriffs and soon found themselves inundated with corruption allegations and harrowing tales of torture and violence from victims and witnesses across the state. Joining forces with the New York Times, the team obtained records logged from officers’ Tasers (the preferred torture device of the deputies, according to victims) and matched the logs with other departmental records to determine which device was assigned to each deputy. This allowed them to corroborate the victims’ accounts and identify additional victims. Their series of reports led to the federal indictment of one former sheriff and “lit a fire under federal authorities,” with the FBI requesting the reporters’ help in reaching the victims and witnesses for interviews.
This project was in part supported by Big Local News at Stanford University and the Pulitzer Center.
Unresponsive
In this months-long investigation into Sedwick County EMS – the lone ambulance provider for more than half a million people – reporters at The Wichita Eagle uncovered a public safety crisis that put an entire community at risk. Through open records, leaked documents, interviews, and direct research, the reporters built a database of response times, and direct testimony to back it up, that showed the department had dangerously slow response times and staffing shortages driven by mismanagement. While under the EMS director’s leadership, the department had fallen from one of the best in the Midwest to one that showed up late for over 11,000 potentially fatal emergency calls in two years. The series led to the prompt ousting of the EMS director, an apology by the county manager for his slow response to the crisis, and most importantly – a massive overhaul of the county’s EMS service.
Electrical fires are often treated as accidents in Milwaukee, but an investigation by reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that they are actually foreseeable tragedies that hit Black renters by far the hardest, with the government doing little to fix the problem. As part of their reporting, the team hired a master electrician to inspect a random selection of homes in Milwaukee’s hardest-hit area, which found that 80% of single and two-family rental properties in the study area had serious electrical problems. The investigation prompted an immediate outcry by leaders in state government and prompted city officials to reexamine and potentially restore an inspection program previously mothballed by state lawmakers. The city is also launching a tenant education program around the issue of electrical safety and is examining potential requirements for city agencies to better document electrical fires.
FAA: Safety Comes Second
Journalist Elizabeth Marchak in a series of articles raised questions about the Federal Government’s handling of air safety violations. The articles shed light on the inaction of the FAA on reports filed by its inspectors about unsafe planes, improper maintenance and inadequate training at low-cost airlines.
Lost in America: Our Failed Immigration Policy
Lost in America was a 7-part investigative journalism series published in The Miami Herald that documented and uncovered the then Haitian and Cuban immigrant exodus into Miami and the country’s discriminatory immigration policies. The series exposed cases of illegal detention and mistreatment of the Haitian and Cuban refugees and the differential treatment immigrants from Cuba and Haiti were subjected to viz refugees from other nationalities.
Series on charges of sexual misconduct against former Senator Brock Adams
The news story broken by journalists David Boardman, Susan Gilmore, Eric Nalder, and Eric Pryne described in detail the sexual harassment and abuse faced by 8 women at the hands of former Senator Adams. The story examines the complicity of those around Senator Adams who knew of his behaviour and either denied it or excused it.
