Pulitzers honor US election coverage

Journalism’s most prestigious prizes awarded to NYT, WaPo reporters

The Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious awards in US journalism, on Monday honored work that challenged President Donald Trump during the country’s divisive election campaign and delivered a passionate defense of a free press.

The 101th edition of the awards, announced at Columbia University in New York, came with the US news media under assault from the White House for peddling “fake news” critical of the administration, and after the press took a bashing for failure to predict Trump’s election.

David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post won the national reporting award for what the board called “a model for transparent journalism” that cast doubt on Trump’s assertions of charitable generosity.

Fahrenthold investigated not only Trump’s claims of charitable giving but also disclosed that the Republican presidential candidate had boasted in crude terms about groping women in a 2005 videotape.

While on the campaign trail seeking the Republican nomination, Trump said he had raised $ 6 million for veterans, but stopped distributing the money having given out just a little more than $ 1 million.

Journalism during the campaign was also honored with the Pulitzer for commentary going to Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal for what the board called “beautifully rendered columns that connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation’s most divisive political campaigns.”

The coveted Public Service medal went to tabloid the New York Daily News and investigative news site ProPublica for uncovering official abuse of eviction rules that ousted hundreds of mostly poor minorities from their homes.

There were a total of 21 categories in journalism, arts and letters.

“The prizes represent the core values of two realms: independent inquiry into public affairs, and creativity and scholarship in telling the story of America,” said Pulitzers administrator Mike Pride.

In his introduction he said the winning journalism included reporting that challenges “powerful politicians and institutions” and exposed “systematic abuse of people with little hope of defending themselves.”

The New York Times won the international reporting award for “agendasetting” coverage of Vladimir Putin’s efforts to project Russian power abroad, including assassinations and online harassment.