Johnston wins top Investigative Reporters' Award for "Perfectly Legal"
JJ MacNab
COLUMBIA, Mo. — An astonishing story of brutal war crimes by The
(Toledo, Ohio) Blade and a book on the American tax system by David
Cay Johnston took top honors in the 2003 IRE Awards, Investigative
Reporters and Editors, Inc. announced today.
The Blade team uncovered the story of an elite U.S. unit called Tiger
Force that went on a seven-month rampage in Vietnam in 1967 killing
hundreds of unarmed civilians. Reporters Michael Sallah, Mitch Weiss
and Joe Mahr tracked down 43 former Tiger Force soldiers, many of whom
are haunted by the atrocities they committed or watched.
The book by Johnston, "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our
Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich — and Cheat Everybody Else"
(Penguin Group USA), combined compelling anecdotes with exhaustive
big-picture research to convey vital information about arcane tax
policy in a way that can be understood by general readers. The contest
judges noted Johnston's tenure as a reporter with The New York Times.
"His years of covering the intricacies of America's loophole-ridden
tax system and the wealthy who take advantage of it have paid off in a
book that should anger every citizen," they said.
The annual awards of IRE - a 5,000-member professional organization -
recognize outstanding investigative work in 15 categories, most of
them based on market or circulation size. The categories are separated
into print, broadcast, online media and work that demonstrates
superior use of freedom of information and open records laws.
IRE judges recognized a wide range of work that included
investigations into a major nonprofit environmental organization, a
decrepit and unsafe school system, the perils of overseas volunteer
work, flaws in U.S. energy policy and international water policy,
workplace dangers, sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy, and
hotels for the homeless.
The IRE Awards program is unique in its efforts to avoid conflicts of
interest. Work that includes any significant role by a member of the
IRE Board of Directors or an IRE contest judge may not be entered in
the contest. This often represents a significant sacrifice on the part
of the individual - and often an entire newsroom - who may have done
outstanding investigative work. For example, this year The Seattle
Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Wisconsin State Journal,
WCNC-Charlotte and WEWS-Cleveland were unable to enter the contest.
IRE's Freedom of Information Award went to a team from the (Sioux
Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader for exposing a massive secret pardons
program rife with questions and conflicts for the governor. The team
included David Kranz, Stu Whitney, Terry Woster, Jon Walker and
Patrick Lalley.
"The Argus-Leader's work is a sterling example of a news organization
working around a state's inadequate freedom of information law to
monitor the affairs of a government's executive branch," the judges
said.
For a second straight year, an IRE Certificate was awarded to Phil
Williams and Bryan Staples of WTVF-Nashville for investigating state
government. Despite ethics reforms, the team documented continued cozy
relationships between politicians and lobbyists as well as
questionable spending practices by the University of Tennessee
president.
<< ------------------------------------------------->>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting >>
<< messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org >>
<< ------------------------------------------------->>