Hartford Courant Reporters Win Top Honor in TNG-CWA Broun Awards

For more information: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, jmiller@cwa-union.org and cjohnson@cwa-union.org

Washington, D.C. – Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman have been awarded the 2006 Heywood Broun Award for their series of stories investigating the U.S. government's ongoing deployment to Iraq of soldiers who suffer pre-existing mental illness and other psychological conditions.

In their major investigatory series, "Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight," the two Hartford Courant reporters revealed that senior military officials have sent troops into combat, despite clear evidence of bipolar disorder, depression, suicidal episodes and Post Traumatic Stress Trauma.  

Their reporting also uncovered the fact that, in spite of federal requirements that military recruits undergo mental health screening, fewer than 1 in 300 sees a mental health professional before being deployed. Treatment of soldiers in the field is even worse, the reporters found, as many soldiers who seek relief from combat stress are simply given anti-depressants and sent back to their duties. The Courant series also spotlighted Army reports showing that senior officers knowingly disregarded the suicidal propensities of several soldiers.

The judges said the series also demonstrated another element of the Broun legacy: "In publicizing the little-known plight of mentally ill soldiers, the paper helped prompt new legislation addressing the flaws in the military's mental health system."  Heywood Broun was the most prominent founder of the American Newspaper Guild in 1934, a crusading columnist who believed individual journalists have the power to cause social change.

The Broun award is named for the union's founder and first president, and includes a plaque and $5,000 cash prize. It is awarded annually by The Newspaper Guild?CWA and will be presented this year on May 3 at the union's Freedom Award Fund dinner in Washington, D.C. The keynote speaker at this year's event will be Newsweek senior editor and columnist and NBC Network contributor Jonathan Alter.

The Herbert Block Freedom Award, also with a $5,000 prize, will be awarded to Josh Wolf, a San Francisco freelance journalist who has been held in federal prison since August 2006 for refusing to turn over video he shot of a July 8, 2005, demonstration in San Francisco.  

Federal prosecutors looking into possible crimes committed during the protest called Wolf before a federal grand jury in February 2006. He was initially jailed in August, freed for a short period during an appeal and was returned to prison on Sept. 22, 2006, where he remains. His attorney has stated that the video Wolf shot does not depict the crimes being investigated, but does include interviews with some of the protestors who spoke on the condition that their identities would be protected. Wolf continues to appeal the ruling.    

Debbie Cenziper of the Miami Herald received the Broun award for substantial distinction for her reporting in the series, "House of Lies," an investigation that uncovered corruption at one of the nation's largest housing authorities – the Miami-Dade Housing Agency.  She will receive a $1,000 prize. 

In the broadcast division, Lorrie Taylor of WJW-TV in Cleveland was recognized for "Disappearing Homes," a story about a predatory real estate company. She also will receive a $1,000 prize.

The award winners were selected from entries from across the United States and Canada.

This year's Broun judges were Deborah Howell, ombudswoman for the Washington Post; Tom Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland; Chris Lehmann, senior editor at CQ Weekly; and Jack Nelson, retired Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. The judging panel was chaired by Dick Peery, the longtime president of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild who retired last year after 35 years with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The David S. Barr award also will be presented at the May 3 event, recognizing a college and high school student for achievements in journalism, with scholarship awards of $1,500 and $500, respectively. 

Kendyl R. Salcito of the University of British Columbia won for her article, "War Brewing Over Mineral Rights in Rural BC," a report on a controversial government program that allows mineral staking on private property. In the high school division, Elizabeth Curry Andrews of Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta won for her story, "Fulton County Blues," which exposed the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the courthouse jail in Fulton County.

The Broun award was first presented for work done in 1941 and is given annually in recognition of "individual journalistic achievement by members of the working media, particularly if it helps right a wrong or correct an injustice."

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The Newspaper Guild-CWA represents 35,000 journalists and newspaper workers in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.  The Communications Workers of America represents more than 700,000 workers in media and information technology, telecommunications, printing and publishing, public employment, health care, higher education, airlines and manufacturing.