ABC News arguing with online journalism outlet over Pulitzer Prize
Network says it deserves partial credit for investigative reporting that won an award for the Center for Public Integrity
BY Don Kaplan, TV EDITOR
New York Daily NewsThursday, April 17, 2014, 2:00 AM
ABC News wants a slice of Pulitzer pie — even though the journalism awards are for newspapers and digital outlets only.
ABC News President Ben Sherwood sent a four-page letter Tuesday to William Buzenberg, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, asking that the organization “share” credit for its Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, awarded this week to the CPI’s Chris Hamby.
“You seem to be determined that ABC was simply a megaphone for Chris Hamby’s work,” Sherwood wrote.
He added that ABC’s investigative reporter Brian Ross and producer Matt Mosk should share in the Pulitzer, saying he intends to take the matter up with the Pulitzer board.
The award-winning reporting exposed how doctors and lawyers worked with the coal industry to deny medical benefits to miners with black lung disease.
In an email to the journalism site Poynter.org, Buzenberg wrote: “Three times ABC SVP for communications Jeffrey W. Schneider threatened me and the Center saying they would make this very ‘messy’.”
“A lot of work went into the investigation,” Schneider told The News on Wednesday. “We’re disappointed that CPI made it seem like ABC’s contributions did not exist.”
According to Pulitzer rules, “Magazines and broadcast media, and their respective Web sites, are not eligible. Entries that involve collaboration between an eligible organization and ineligible media will be considered if the eligible organization does the preponderance of the work and publishes it first” which, according to Buzenberg, was the case here.
Sherwood insists they were equal partners, while the CPI says it did most of the work.
