Pulitzers Awarded

Top Journalism Prizes Underscore Industry’s Plight

It’s certainly no secret that the newspaper industry faces unprecedented perils. And that’s probably an understatement, if recent developments—regularly declining circulation, plummeting profits, shrinking staff sizes (a result of repeated, substantial layoffs and a more voluntary exodus of journalists out of the industry), the closing of century-old newspapers—are any indication. The “Pressure on the Presses” might prove too much to bear, as some predict that End Times are near for print newspapers. The announcement of the winners of the Pulitzer Prizes today underscored this reality—and how the conventional response of management at newspapers across the country might just be the death blow.

The most obvious and egregious example, tinged with irony, can be found in the “Local Reporting” category. Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Arizona) won the prestigious honor “for their adroit use of limited resources to reveal, in print and online, how a popular sheriff’s focus on immigration enforcement endangered investigation of violent crime and other aspects of public safety.” Only problem: Giblin is actually no longer of the East Valley Tribune, having lost his job in October when the paper laid off 40 percent of its staff (including metro editor Patti Epler, who oversaw the project).

Newspapers must end suicide cycle.

Let me get this right: A “struggling” local newspaper—limited, as they all are, in its journalistic resources—decides that eliminating talent (Pulitzer-worthy talent, no less) is the solution. This absolutely ridiculous, nonsensical response has swept through the nation’s newspapers during this 21st-century crisis. Circulation declines (for a host of reasons, not the least of which include lack of innovation—from business models to design to coverage—and inconsistent, if not poor, quality); advertising revenue, as a result, decreases; management makes cuts to offset the losses. Problem solved, right? Not even close. Now with even less staff, reporters and editors, the newspaper’s coverage shrinks and quality inevitably fades. With even fewer reasons to subscribe or buy the newspaper, readers are lost, and circulation declines. Repeat cycle. Witness slow, painful, gruesome suicide.

Among the winning newspapers, most are hurting, if not in total dire straits. The New York Times garnered five (the second-most in a single year for the paper of record); the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and the Miami Herald each won one. All are in trouble—some shedding staff, others cutting pay, some filing for or considering bankruptcy, others shrinking page sizes, reducing the number of newspapers printed, and limiting home delivery to certain days.

But the reminders served up by the Pulitzer Prizes aren’t all bad. Newspapers, and the work performed by the professional journalists who fill the pages, are vital to the health of our communities (large and small) and our country. The examples in this year’s class of winners and finalists are plenty, from literally saving lives and holding public officials accountable to bringing to light issues that would have otherwise remained shrouded in darkness. Read the winning entries (see links below), and it’s hard to argue that the newspaper/print journalism industry, for all its faults, isn’t worth saving.

But as long the coin-counters continue to make the major decisions at newspapers, rather than those (if they exist) who realize that their product’s value is greater than any bottom-line profit and those (if they exist) who know that innovation, fresh ideas and new models must be the foundation of salvation, the future of newspapers will indeed be bleak—and brief.

2009 WINNERS OF THE PULITZER PRIZES

JOURNALISM:

Public Service - Las Vegas Sun 

Breaking News Reporting - The New York Times Staff 

Investigative Reporting - David Barstow of The New York Times
(Part 1: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand and Part 2: Barry McCaffrey’s World)

Explanatory Reporting - Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times

Local Reporting - Detroit Free Press Staff and Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ

National Reporting - St. Petersburg Times Staff

International Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Feature Writing - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times 

Commentary - Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post 

Criticism - Holland Cotter of The New York Times 

Editorial Writing - Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY 

Editorial Cartooning - Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune 

Breaking News Photography - Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald 

Feature Photography - Damon Winter of The New York Times 

LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC: 

Fiction - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

Drama - Ruined by Lynn Nottage

History - The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company)

Biography - American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House) 

Poetry - The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press) 

General Nonfiction - Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday) 

Music - Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)

*For more information about the Pulitzer Prizes, from past winners to this year’s finalists in the aforementioned categories, click here.