Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Pulitzers for Everyone!

OK, so not for everyone but one for my friend Ryan. You may remember him from a post I wrote a few months back when he won a Polk Award. Well now he's clearly outdone himself and scored a fucking Pulitzer.

When most of the news in the journalism world has been gloomier than a General Motors quarterly accounting report, it's indescribable to know my former editor and roommate Ryan Gabrielson is now a Pulitzer-prize winner for his outstanding work on Reasonable Doubt.

From the Pulitzer site:
Awarded to Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, Ariz., 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.

There's a ton of great press about it, but here's a piece from my local NPR Station (WNYC). You can listen or read.

The Takeaway story touches on it, but what's really fascinating and yet incredibly sad about the backstory is that the reporter who worked with Ryan on this piece was laid off from the East Valley Tribune in January. Massive newsroom liquidations have become incredibly common across the nation with the devaluation of quality journalism, and this piece from Heat City does a great job putting in into perspective.

While it seems like my own blogger prize and ultimate writer's validation is still a ways off, I will continue to bask in Ryan's reflective glow... and relish those excellently embarrassing photos that much more.

1 comment:

Maya / מיה said...

wow, I was just reading about the Pulitzer prize winners on another site... how crazy that you actually worked with one of them! (Now he's a "them"...)