Online media creates history

BY Md Ali| IN Digital Media | 18/04/2010
The two Pulitzer prizes given to online and internet based works is an acknowledgement of the changing landscape of journalism.
It also highlights the new trend of collaborating with not-for-profits for investigative journalism, says MD ALI.

 In 2010 online media created Pulitzer history.  It was the first time that in two categories, the award went to the non traditional media, an online media organization and an internet based work.   

Sheri Fink of the nonprofit ProPublica (http://www.propublica.org), in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, was awarded a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for a 13,000-word story on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.

The Manhattan-based non-profit ProPublica is devoted to doing the kind of investigative journalism projects many newspapers have found too expensive to afford. According to Reuters it has just over 30 employees and is funded by charitable foundations.

In another online first, www.sfgate.com, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, won for editorial cartooning. The award for the animated cartoons by Mark Fiore marked the first time an Internet-based entry won in that category.

Paul Steiger, editor at ProPublica, wrote about the awarded article "The Deadly Choices at Memorial" on the outlet’s website, "Sheri Fink's shocking 13,000-word chronicle, revealed how some New Orleans doctors - in the gathering chaos as Katrina's flood waters rose, generators failed, and their hospital was cut off from the world - decided to give lethal injections to patients whom they feared could not be evacuated."

Last year was the first time in which online-only entries were allowed to compete for this much coveted award.

Although it doesn’t need an award to prove the growing influence and quality of online media the fact that Pulitzers snubbed The National Enquirer, which had been widely tipped to be the first ever scandal magazine to win the prize, as reported by Reuters, and preferred Propublica, does highlight the fact that online media can give the print a run, if not for their money then obviously for the awards.

As reported by Reuters, Sig Gissler, the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes acknowledged the quality of the work done by online journalism. "You could see they’re really doing serious journalism," he said of the nontraditional media entries this year. "I think over time they’re going to get stronger." 

The two awards given to online and internet based works is an acknowledgement of the changing landscape of journalism. It also highlights some new trends in the evolution of newer forms of journalism.

One of those trends is the model of collaboration for investigative journalism. For instance Propublica has made the use of collaborations between news organizations and independent, privately funded groups famous by its successful and award winning projects for investigative journalism.

According to The Washington Post, many investigative exposes done by ProPublica in collaboration with traditional media organizations have already received recognition from competitions often considered "predictors" of Pulitzer Prizes.

 For instance the University of Southern California's Selden Ring Award went to a ProPublica-Los Angeles Times expose of insurance for contractors in war zones, and a ProPublica-L.A. Times project exploring a nursing scandal was a finalist in the same competition.

"The Deadly Choices at Memorial", the investigative report which helped ProPublica win a Pulitzer was co-published by The New York Times magazine  and was the first such collaboration to be recognized by the Pulitzer Prize.

"This is something we're going to see more of in the years ahead as there's more and more collaboration of news entities when it comes to enterprise journalism," Sig Gissler, said, as reported by Reuters.

Writing in The Washington Post, Roy J. Harris Jr pointed out that "the nonprofit ProPublica is considered by some to be a new model for journalism as struggling for-profit media organizations don’t have much resources to invest in investigative journalism."

The ProPublica site talks about this model of collaborative journalism. 

 "Time and budget constraints are curbing the ability of journalists not specifically designated ‘investigative’ to do this kind of reporting in addition to their regular beats…This is therefore a moment when new models are necessary to carry forward some of the great work of journalism in the public interest that is such an integral part of self-government, and thus an important bulwark of our democracy."

As it is very clear from the prize winning collaboration between ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, some newspapers have already turned to the model of collaboration to bring down the high cost of investigative operations.

Now when this new trend of collaboration has been recognized by the Pulitzer, more and more media organizations are expected to adopt this kind of partnership for both its cost-savings and its standard-setting results.

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