Washington Post, NY Times win Pulitzer Prizes

'TRANSPARENT JOURNALISM'

While the Pulitzer ceremony highlighted the news media's importance to democracy, it has been challenged by so-called fake news, which once referred to fabricated stories meant to influence the US election but has become a term used by Trump to dismiss factual reporting that is critical. Trump has frequently excoriated the media and in February called it "the enemy of the American people."

Operating in the glare of the 2016 presidential campaign, David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post took the national reporting award. The judges said he "created a model for transparent journalism in political campaign coverage while casting doubt on Donald Trump's assertions of generosity toward charities."

Fahrenthold found that Trump's charitable giving had not always matched his public statements. He also broke perhaps the biggest scoop of the campaign, revealing Trump had been captured on videotape making crude remarks about women and bragging about kissing and grabbing them without their permission.

The Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, a longtime Republican, took the commentary prize for a series of critical pieces about Trump during the real estate magnate's successful run for the White House.

The New York Times staff won the international reporting prize for articles on Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to project Russia's power abroad, a particularly pertinent story given US intelligence conclusions that Putin's government actively tried to influence the US election in Trump's favor.

The Times revealed "techniques that included assassination, online harassment and the planting of incriminating evidence on opponents," the judges said.

Reuters was a finalist in the national reporting and breaking news photography categories. Photographer Jonathan Bachman was recognized for his image of a woman being detained by police during a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In national reporting, the Reuters team of Renee Dudley, Steve Stecklow, Alexandra Harney, Irene Jay Liu, Koh Gui Qing,James Pomfret and Ju-min Park was recognized for their series"Cheat Sheet," documenting how the business of collegead missions and standardized testing has been corrupted.

The 19-member Pulitzer board is made up of past winners and other distinguished journalists and academics. It chose the winners with the help of 102 jurors.

More than 2,500 entries were submitted this year, competing for 21 prizes. Seven of the awards recognize fiction, drama, history, biographies, poetry, general nonfiction and music.

Author Colson Whitehead won the fiction award for "The Underground Railroad," a work the judges said "combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America."

The Pulitzers began in 1917 after a bequest from newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

Reuters