Los Angeles Times Reporters Win Top Honor in TNG-CWA Broun Awards for 2005

Washington, D.C. – Matt Lait and Scott Glover have been awarded the 2005 Heywood Broun Award for their extensive reporting on a 20-year-old murder case that resulted in even the prosecutor testifying as to his doubts about the defendant's guilt.

The two Los Angeles Times reporters wrote "A Case of Doubt" following nine months of research, dozens of interviews, a review of thousands of pages of police and court records, and even a re-enactment of the murder scene that disproved key prosecution claims. Judges said their work combined indefatigable reporting with graceful writing that produced an almost seamless narrative about a wrongly incarcerated man.  

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.

May 3 also marks World Press Freedom Day, and the Herbert Block Freedom Award, also with a $5,000 prize, will be presented to the International Federation of Journalists Safety Fund for its determination to safeguard journalists around the globe, especially those reporting from war zones and other dangerous sites.

Two reporters at Knight Ridder's Washington Bureau were recognized with the Broun award for distinction for their examination of how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has assisted American soldiers returning home from the war in Iraq.

In a package of stories titled "Discharged and Dishonored," Chris Adams and Alison Young uncovered the many ways that American Iraqi war veterans have been shortchanged or abandoned by the government that is supposed to care for them, the panel of Broun judges determined. They will receive a $1,000 prize. 

In the broadcast division, Sasha Aslanian and Mike Edgerly of American Radio Works and Minnesota Public Radio received the award of distinction for their reporting on an environmental hazard in Minnesota resulting from the widespread presence of 3M's former "Scotchguard" chemicals. They also receive a $1,000 prize.

The award winners were selected from among more than 100 entries from across the United States and Canada.

This year's Broun judges were broadcast journalist Neil MacDonald, CBC; retired syndicated columnist William Raspberry; editor Rem Rieder, American Journalism Review; and columnist Connie Schultz, Cleveland Plain Dealer, with the panel chaired by retired TNG-CWA vice president Larry Hatfield.  

Judging the broadcast entries were Washington, D.C. area broadcast journalists Anee Raulerson and Julie Wright.

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. Shahar Smooha, a student journalist at Columbia University, will be recognized for his account of his journey to Jordan to vote in the first democratic election for the Iraqi Parliament. Sarah A. Halper, a student at the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Florida, won for her reporting on the West Palm Beach school system's efforts to block access to websites on gay human rights and abortion.

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 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.