An escalating crisis in Iraq and Syria, civil war in Ukraine, the painful negotiations over Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the “Black Lives Matter” protests in the United States may have dominated news in the last year, but they received minimal recognition Monday as the Pulitzer committee announced its 2015 winners and finalists for excellence in journalism.
Although a photography award was given for coverage of the riots in Ferguson, Mo., Pulitzer panelists otherwise gave no recognition to coverage of the “#BlackLivesMatter” movement, which has sparked protests all over the country.
The protests that began after Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson on Aug. 9, 2014, and the movement intensified when a Staten Island grand jury decided on Dec. 3 not to indict the New York City police officer whose chokehold last July led to the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African-American.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s photographers captured several memorable pictures of violent protests in Ferguson, and the Pulitzer staff citation praised their “powerful images of the despair and anger in Ferguson” — though a thorough investigation into the shooting itself eventually revealed that most of the public perceptions about the incident were wildly inaccurate.
The protests in response to these and other police-related deaths continue, generating constant coverage and debate on network and cable television.
The only coverage of the “#BlackLivesMatter” protests to win Pulitzer recognition was the work done by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s photographers who captured several of the most iconic images of violent protests in Ferguson.
Last year also saw several major events occur overseas, including the rise of the Islamic State, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Crimea, continued fighting between Israel and Palestine and the ongoing nuclear talks between an international group and Tehran.
But the Pulitzer community gave its award for international reporting to The New York Times for coverage of another high-profile story: the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Times staff was awarded for its “courageous front-line reporting and vivid human stories on Ebola in Africa, engaging the public with the scope and details of the outbreak while holding authorities accountable,” the committee said.
In two separate categories, the Pulitzer committee awarded more than one candidate.
Eric Lipton of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal staff both won Pulitzers for their investigative reporting. Likewise, the Torrance, Ca., Daily Breeze’s Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci were awarded Pulitzer’s for best local reporting.
Other Pulitzer Prize winners for 2015 included Bloomberg News’ Zachary R. Mider for his work in “Explanatory Reporting,” the Washington Post’s Carol D. Leonnig for her coverage of the Secret Service’s many scandals, and The Seattle Times staff for its breaking news coverage of a landslide in Washington that killed 43 people.
