May 27, 2004

Washington Post writer wins Mongerson Prize

Howard Kurtz, media writer for The Washington Post, is the 2004 winner of the $10,000 Mongerson Prize for Investigative Reporting on the News, the Medill School of Journalism has announced.

The winners of two $1,000 Awards of Distinction — Jim Avila of NBC Nightly News and Michael Getler of The Washington Post — and a special Citation of Excellence for the San Antonio Express-News also were announced.

The Mongerson Prize honors outstanding reporting that uncovers and promptly corrects incomplete, inaccurate or misleading news stories. It was presented recently to Kurtz at the National Press Club in Washington.

Kurtz broke the story of New York Times reporter Jayson Blair’s apparent plagiarism on April 30, 2003, starting with the San Antonio Express-News’ alert to the Times and following through with sources quoted by Blair who said they were never interviewed by Blair. Kurtz continued with coverage of the Times’ internal investigation.

“He subjected The New York Times to the same relentless scrutiny that the best journalists apply to any institution,” the judges said in awarding Kurtz the top honor. “His writing dominated the reporting on this story.”

The Medill School also announced the awarding of a special Citation of Excellence to the San Antonio Express-News for discovering similarities between one of its stories and a story written by Blair and for reporting the fact to New York Times managing editor Gerald Boyd.

NBC Nightly News reporter Avila was honored for a story he reported that corrected mistakes that had been published and aired concerning the capture of Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Getler was honored for columns he wrote as ombudsman for The Washington Post that chronicled a disturbing pattern of omissions in its coverage of the build-up to the war in Iraq and called into question the Post’s story on Lynch and its subsequent reconstruction of her capture.