Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
RJ recognized nationally for its 2019 work
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has been recognized nationally for 2019 work fighting for government transparency, editorial cartoons and a news podcast series.
The news organization is a 2019 finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors’ FOI Award. FOI stands for “freedom of information.” The Washington Post was named winner for its “Afghanistan Papers” series.
Editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez won first place in the National Headliner awards for his portfolio of work. Judges said his work was “sharp, sophisticated, daring.” The RJ’s first podcast series, “Critical Condition,” by
Shea Johnson and Reed Redmond, won second place in the Best Information Podcast category. The six-part podcast shares the stories of two Las Vegas police officers, a woman in dire straits and the night their lives intersected on Oct. 1, 2017.
The National Headliner awards are among the oldest and largest annual contests recognizing journalistic merit.
IRE contest judges described the Review-Journal’s entry as “an impressive effort to go to court to fight for a variety of records, prod the state legislature to strengthen the state’s public records law and to educate readers about the importance of access to records.”
“Thanks to Investigative Reporters and Editors for recognizing the valiant efforts of the Review-Journal’s writers, editors and counsel to wrench records from uncooperative agencies and report on matters of great public importance that otherwise would have remained secret,” Executive Editor Glenn Cook said Tuesday. “We were especially proud last year to play a part in winning approval of major reforms in the Nevada Public Records Act that, we hope, will encourage government’s bad actors to be more transparent and stop wasting precious taxpayer resources on courtroom losses.”
The Review-Journal’s IRE entry included a package of five stories that exemplified efforts to shed light on government activity in Nevada in 2019.
One of the stories in May 2019 explored how Nevada residents have struggled to access government documents under the state’s public record laws, and how a bill before the 2019 state legislature could address such shortcomings.
Senate Bill 287 created penalties