Pulitzers honor coverage of US gun massacres
April 16, 2019
The Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in American journalism recognized three local newspapers for their coverage of gun violence in 2018.
The Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Maryland, was given a special citation for courage and publishing on schedule the day after a gunman entered its newsroom and killed five reporters.
Staff gathered together ahead of the announcement to remember their slain colleagues. "Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings," editor Rick Hutzell said. "No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends."
The man charged over the attack — one of the deadliest on journalists in US history — had a longstanding grudge against the paper.
Read more: Marking history: the Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer for public service went to the South Florida Sun Sentinel for its reporting on the failings of authorities before and after a mass shooting in February 2018 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen staff and students were killed in the massacre.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won a breaking news reporting award for its coverage of a shooting in October at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 people lost their lives.
Read more: Pulitzer Prize: Kendrick Lamar makes history as winners announced
The New York Times was honored for its explanatory reporting on US President Donald Trump's finances and tax avoidance.
The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for exposing Trump's hush payments to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him.
Read more: The truth will out: the Pulitzer Prize in the Trump era
Reuters won an international reporting award for revealing the massacre of Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers by security forces in Myanmar. The Associated Press was also recognized for documenting atrocities and suffering in Yemen's civil war.
The Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in US journalism, were first established in 1917 by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.
nm/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)