Franklin Center Statement on Nonprofit News Organizations Winning Pulitzer
Jason Stverak, President of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a leading non-profit journalism organization, released the following statement regarding ProPublica’s Pulitzer Prize win. ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, won for its investigative piece on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.
“ProPublica’s Pulitzer Prize award is a testament to the important investigative work that nonprofit journalism organizations are doing every day. Their award makes it evidently clear that nonprofit journalism organizations can produce quality, accurate, unbiased, and real investigative pieces that are changing the way citizens get news.
This award also reiterates the importance of investigative journalism and the depleting investigative capabilities at traditional media outlets. Investigative journalism is the most effective weapon of the press but unfortunately it has all but disappeared from newsrooms. Newspapers around the country are curbing reporters’ ability to spend the time or money to investigate a story in addition to the daily beat they write. This growing hole in investigative journalism is now being filled by nonprofit organizations like ProPublica and the Franklin Center as well as many state and local journalism non-profits that have the capacity to spend time becoming immersed in the story and uncovering the details that may get passed over in other media coverage.
The Franklin Center would like to congratulate ProPublica on this momentous award and looks forward to learning from their achievements.”
For more information, please visit FranklinCenterHQ.org
About The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
The Franklin Center is a non-profit group dedicated to providing investigative reporters and non-profit organizations at the state and local level with the training, expertise and technical support necessary to pursue journalistic endeavors. By networking with state-based think tanks, local non-profits, and independent Watchdog reporters across the country, the Franklin Center works against the growing tide of mediocrity and bias in the media and punditry of alternative online sources. The Franklin Center undertakes programs that promote investigative reporting and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence and abuse of public trust by elected officials. The Franklin Center is also a proud sponsor of Watchdog.org and Statehouse News Bureaus.
