BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. – The Bristol Herald Courier won journalism’s top prize
Monday – the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service – for exposing a system
that allowed energy corporations to drain natural gas belonging to
thousands of landowners without compensating them.
The eight-day series, which began in December 2009, explored how gas
ownership conflicts have led an obscure but powerful state board to
funnel tens of millions of dollars of royalties into escrow over 20
years. Investigative reporter Daniel Gilbert’s research revealed that
gas corporations – virtually unwatched by state regulations – had failed
to pay royalties into escrow.
Since the series ran, two gas corporations have paid more than $1
million in delinquent royalties, and the General Assembly has passed
legislation designed to release royalties held in escrow to landowners;
it is awaiting the governor’s signature to become law.
The newspaper created – and continues to update – an online
searchable database of monthly escrow statements, enabling landowners to
investigate their stake in escrow for the first time.
“This is proof that it’s not the size of the newspaper but the size
of its heart, soul and its watchdog teeth,” said J. Todd Foster, the
Herald Courier’s editor. “To win the top Pulitzer and to see the Bristol
Herald Courier name above The New York Times and The Washington Post on
a list of Pulitzer winners is incredibly gratifying and a testament to
the excellent journalism practiced here.”
The Pulitzer is the first for the 139-year-old Herald Courier.
“I couldn’t be more proud of and grateful to Daniel Gilbert and Todd
Foster for leading the charge to our becoming a Pulitzer prize-winning
newspaper,” said Carl Esposito, the newspaper’s publisher. “This is
surely the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced in my career, and
it is a privilege to share this moment with such a great team.”
The Herald Courier won the award over two other finalists – a joint
New York Times-ProPublica effort and the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press. The
Times-ProPublica story “exposed gaps in California’s oversight of
dangerous and incompetent nurses, blending investigative scrutiny and
multimedia storytelling to produce corrective changes.”
Asbury Park was named a Pulitzer finalist for its “exhaustive
examination of how an archaic property tax system harms New Jersey’s
economy and ordinary families, using stories and interactive databases
to spark pledges of statewide reform.”
The Herald Courier series, called “Underfoot, Out of Reach,” already
had won two other national awards: The Scripps Howard National
Journalism Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award.
EARLIER TODAY
NEW YORK (AP) - The Herald Courier of Bristol, Va., has won the
Pulitzer Prize for public service for reporting on the mismanagement of
natural gas royalties owed to landowners in Virginia.
You can view all the articles in this winning series, as well as
access a database of escrow accounts,
here.
The Washington Post won four Pulitzers on Monday, for international
reporting, feature writing, commentary and criticism.
ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative-journalism service, won one of
two Pulitzers awarded for investigative reporting for a story on the
life-and-death decisions made by doctors at a New Orleans hospital
during Hurricane Katrina. The story was a collaboration with The New
York Times Magazine.
The Pulitzers are the most prestigious awards in journalism and are
given out annually by Columbia University on the recommendation of a
board of distinguished journalists and others. Each award carries a
$10,000 prize except for the public service award, which is a gold
medal.
http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/bristol_herald_courier_wins_pulitzer_prize/44443/
