Times is honored for Mexico series

The Los Angeles Times won a Gerald Loeb award for its coverage of workers’ living conditions in Mexico’s agricultural industry.

Reporter Richard Marosi and photographer Don Bartletti were recognized for their work on the four- part “Product of Mexico” series at a ceremony Tuesday night in New York City.

The Loeb awards, which have been presented by the UCLA Anderson School of Management since 1973, are given to business and f inancial journalists. The awards were established in 1957 by Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of Wall Street brokerage firm E. F. Hutton & Co.

“Product of Mexico” won in the international category. The Los Angeles Times was a f inalist in the breaking news category for its coverage of the Virgin Galactic spaceship crash in October as well as in the commentary category for columnist Michael Hiltzik’s work.

For “Product of Mexico,” Marosi and Bartletti spent 18 months traveling to 30 labor camps in nine Mexican states. Their investigation found that, at the mega- farms producing fruits and vegetables exported to the U. S., thousands of farmhands are being exploited.

Other Loeb winners Tuesday included the New York Times for beat reporting, images and visuals; the Wall Street Journal for breaking news reporting and investigative reporting; ProPublica for commentary; the Chicago Tribune for explanatory reporting; Mother Jones for feature reporting; the Minneapolis Star Tribune for local reporting; the Detroit Free Press for personal f inance reporting; and KNTV in video and audio.

Rebecca Blumenstein of the Wall Street Journal won the Lawrence Minard editing award and James Grant of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer won the Lifetime Achievement award.