BY BILL JUNEAU
The 2023-24 winners of Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding reporting of the news have been announced and the pace-setters in the hard news category were the New York Times and the Washington Post. The acclaimed winners from the nation's most powerful left wing newspapers took their bows and slipped fresh cash into their wallets.
The Pulitzer Prize is the the most prestigious award in all of journalism. The award carries the name of Joseph Pulitzer, Publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper who was a fierce believer in newspapers and their role as a watchdog in a free democracy in the greatest country in the world. Besides NYT and WAPO, Pulitzer awards went to winners in some 15 other categories, including photography, commentary and personal profiles.
Pulitzers have been awarded to journalists since 1918, and in that period the Times of New York has won 132. The Washington Post has been recognized on 68 occasions. The NYT has won more Pulitzers than any other newspaper in the country. This years' Pulitzers actually included three for the Times and three for the Post; and the focus of their reports was on immigration, the Israeli- Gaza war and gun violence.
But still in all, amidst the applauding and kudos, there is no forgetting the controversial awards of 2018-2019 pulled down by the Times and the Post. In that year, the NYT and WAPO received recognition for 10 stories published by each newspaper which castigated President Trump for his collusion with Russian President Vladimir Putin who allegedly had helped him win the 2016 election over Hillary Clinton. Trump's conduct and hand-holding with Russia, the papers implied, bordered on sedition.
The Pulitzer Board handed out the awards a short time after the announcement that President Trump had never colluded with Russia in any way, and that allegations that he had done so were political lies and trash talk. That finding exonerating President Trump came following a $33 million dollar congressional-authorized investigation into allegations that the 45th President, elected in 2016, had "colluded" with Russia. The investigation was conducted by the respected former FBI Director, Robert Swan Mueller.
President Trump and his supporters demanded that the Times and the Post apologize for their journalistic lies in pumped-up news stories. The dishonest reporting was based upon the papers' personal animus and disdain for the Republican President who had beaten Democrat Hillary Clinton. Many of the stories attacking Trump were based upon "anonymous sources."
The recipients of the Pulitzers declined to apologize for their lies, and held tight to the thousands of dollars in cash awards and certificates.
The Pulitzer Committee which picked the winners, was importuned by Trump and various institutions to rescind the awards, but the committee, made up of prominent news persons, including editors and former editors of the Times and Post papers, refused.
In a statement, the Pulitzer Prize committee, following "independent reviews" rejected calls to rescind and devalue the 2018 prizes or apologize. Instead, the board upheld the awards stating that the "reporting was deeply sourced and furthered the public's understanding of Russian interference."
"We stand behind the Pulitzer selection process which has endured for 103 years," asserted Dana Canedy, Pulitzer administrator. "The winning work speaks for itself. Beyond that, this simply doesn’t deserve comment."
After the 2018 disgraceful conduct and its determination not to rescind the awards and apologize, journalistic aficionados must now wonder about other awards and if politics was a key factor in making the selections.
To some, the 2018 Pulitzers awarded to NYT and WAPO is seen simply as a blip on the screen of the country's most liberal and woke-minded newspapers. Harsh critics believe that the papers were simply overcome by the desire to bring down President Trump and no tactics were out of bounds. For them, the awards of 2018-19 will always be remembered as the "Purloined Pulitzers."
The Times is the nation's most prestigious newspaper and perhaps the adage that it publishes "all the news that is fit to print" has been sullied a bit, but the paper continues in a fast moving society where newspapers are being challenged by the electronic press and the talking TV heads for providing the news of the day.
Since 2004, some 2,400 newspapers have terminated operation. Included were 70 dailies. At the latest counts, there are 171 counties in America which do not have any newspaper.
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