Sure, Online Journalism Nets Its First Pulitzer Prize, But Will A Blog Ever Win?

from the times-they-are-a-changin' dept

Cram was the first amongst many to submit the story that online publications won Pulitzer Prizes for the first time ever. Sherri Fink of ProPublica, a non-profit online journalism service, won the investigative reporting prize for her piece about overworked doctors in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which was co-published in the New York Times Magazine. Mark Fiore won for his editorial cartoons on SFGate.com, which marks the first time that an online-only entity has won a Pulitzer. To us, this is only an affirmation of a trend that we've been watching here for years. Nothing about a physical newspaper inherently makes it better suited for doing great reporting. Print and online are just a mediums, and as consumption patterns shift towards online, we should see more of this in the future. As we've seen recently with the breaking of the huge Collateral Murder story by Wikileaks, there's an opportunity to do great hard-hitting investigative reporting not only outside of the print medium, but also outside of the traditional journalistic institutions themselves. The question is, will Pulitzer recognize such efforts? From the Pulitzer eligibility rules:
Entries for journalism awards must be based on material coming from a text-based United States newspaper or news site that publishes at least weekly during the calendar year and that adheres to the highest journalistic principles.
So, it's unclear whether or not blogs would be eligible for a Pulitzer. Plenty of blogs would meet the weekly publishing requirement, but from the rest of the definition it would appear that any site not affiliated with an "official" news site would not be eligible. As for the "highest journalistic principles," The National Enquirer was accepted as a nominee this year, so surely there's a blog or two out there that can bring their quality of reporting up to that level.

That said, the Pulitzer does not have to change their rules to include blogs, after all, by definition, it is a prize for the newspaper industry. Magazines and broadcast news are also not eligible. But, these prohibitions seem artificial since many of the prizes focus on reporting, and plenty of quality reporting happens outside of the newspapers. Times change, and if the Pulitzer wants to continue to be relevant in the public eye, it needs to evolve or it risks becoming a big award in a small pond.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: blogs, newspapers, pulitzer


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    A Dan (profile), 14 Apr 2010 @ 2:22pm

    Typo

    You said, "That said, the Pulitzer does not have change their rules"

    I think you mean "have to".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Quick Brown Fox, 14 Apr 2010 @ 2:43pm

    Pulitzer Prize

    This is a wonderful development. As you noted, blogs are not precluded for consideration, but magazines and broadcast news are. The rules should be changed to allow them as well.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2010 @ 2:57pm

    So, what happens to the Pulitzer when newspapers are completely a thing of the past?

    A better question is, what happens to the Pulitzer when newspapers adapt to the digital world (by discontinuing print), but Pulitzer refuses to adapt their rules? Is a newspaper still a newspaper without the paper? If so, what is so different about a paperless newspaper and a blog?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Dennis Yang (profile), 14 Apr 2010 @ 3:04pm

    Re: Typo

    Thanks A Dan... fixed now.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    The Lazy Dog, 14 Apr 2010 @ 3:35pm

    Standards

    Standards certainly aren't what they used to be if "The National Enquirer" is publishing articles worthy of a Pulitzer. The next thing you know, "Hustler" reporters will be applying for White House press passes...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2010 @ 3:51pm

    blogs are just personal spew.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    PRMan, 14 Apr 2010 @ 4:38pm

    Correction

    "Print and online are just a mediums"

    Did you mean "Print and online are just (different forms of media)"?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2010 @ 5:32pm

    Re:

    What was that, personal spewer? I can't hear you over the sound of your TAMness.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 14 Apr 2010 @ 5:49pm

    This just in!

    StarShipSofa (a podcast) just got nominated for a Hugo award.

    This seems to be the year for digital media.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    McBeese, 14 Apr 2010 @ 6:01pm

    Journalism is more than media

    Journalism is more than format. Journalism is about reporting, research, verification, editing, and proof-reading. Too many blogs are little more than opinions and typos, neither of which is prize-worthy. After all, we all have lots of both. Even this post was submitted without editing or proof reading.

    One of the differentiating values of old media is quality. I hope that value isn't lost in the struggle to adapt to new formats.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Apr 2010 @ 4:07am

    Re:

    Well, I don't know how pulitzer stays above water financially, but if someone were to set up an award for the highest caliber online journalism with similar standards, it could be a problem for Pulitzer down the road.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    John Fenderson (profile), 15 Apr 2010 @ 8:29am

    Re: Journalism is more than media

    "One of the differentiating values of old media is quality."

    One of the differentiating values used to be quality. With a few exceptions, the old media gave up on quality years ago. I'm talking journalistic quality, not proofreading. It's a shame, and if they were to recapture the old values, the young whippersnappers would have a more difficult time competing, regardless of the medium.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Paul Harris, 15 Apr 2010 @ 10:58am

    Right on ProPublica

    Congrats to Pro Publica. I recently started following them in relation to the N.O. Police brutality and murders, and found their interactive reporting with public input, as well as working with other organizations and demanding accuracy to be quite refreshing.

    As a tourist who was trapped in the Superdome, the media's mis-reporting right after Katrina was almost criminal.

    Paul Harris
    Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.