Reporters for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., were among the honorees when national SPJ awarded its Ethics in Journalism Award at the national convention EIJ18 in Baltimore Sept. 29 during the closing banquet. Region 2 Director and DC Pro Chapter member Andy Schotz had nominated two teams of journalists for the award. A team from Minnesota Public Radio was co-winner with NPR, which also had reporters in New York working on the nominated coverage.
Schotz said: “What distinguished NPR and MPR in the media world was their treatment of the news when it involved their own staff members and management. While [others] largely passed along statements from top executives and, on the air, told viewers how upset they were, NPR and MPR dug in as journalists, with the same drive and thoroughness as if the stories had happened somewhere else.”
Schotz also presented the awards at the banquet, citing both organizations for their reporting on the topic of sexual harassment within or connected to their own organizations. The award honors work that demonstrates the ideals set forth in the SPJ Code of Ethics.
David Folkenflik, NPR’s national media correspondent based in New York City, and Merrit Kennedy, a reporter in Washington for “The Two-Way,” NPR’s breaking news blog, were included in the nomination for their work covering sexual harassment allegations against Michael Oreskes, NPR’s senior vice president of news, as well as others within the organization. Mary Louise Kelly, afternoon anchor for NPR’s daily news show, “All Things Considered” and based in Washington, interviewed NPR CEO Jarl Mohn, “showing persistence and grit” in pursuing the story.
MPR reporters Laura Yuen, Evan Kerr and Matt Sepic received praise for their exploration of sexual harassment allegations against “A Prairie Home Companion” founding host Garrison Keillor. MPR’s parent company distributed Keillor’s show and owed much of its success to him. Until their reporting, Keillor himself had control of the narrative regarding his workplace behavior.
In his nomination letter, Schotz noted that the two teams exhibited the kind of outstanding ethical behavior that the SPJ Code of Ethics sets forth as ideal. “They interviewed colleagues. They pressed top managers and leaders. They developed sources. And they didn’t hold back in their reporting despite the obvious awkwardness of being in the middle of an important news story,” he said.
(DC Pro Chapter member and EIJ18 chapter delegate Kathleen Burns provided some details to enhance the information in the SPJ press release for this report.)