Pulitzer Prizes remind us why journalism must survive

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, May 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

It looked like the best of breed rather than the dying breed that so many have predicted.

I am talking about the crowded room at Columbia University in New York City, in which the winners of the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes gathered to receive their recognition. There were newspaper editors, journalists and publishers. There were authors of fiction and nonfiction, drama, history and biographies. There was even a poet who, remarkably enough, looked just like you would expect a poet to look.

It was an incredible array of talented people honored according to the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who established the prizes that have been awarded by Columbia University since 1917. There is no higher recognition in the world of journalism, drama, letters and music.

I say all this with some degree of humility to temper an incredible sense of pride because, for the first time in its history, the Las Vegas Sun was invited to accept the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

It is telling that of the 21 categories in which Pulitzers were awarded, 20 of them came with checks for $10,000. The Public Service award involved no money — too bad because in this economy it would have been helpful — but came instead with a gold medal, which in the world I live in, is priceless.

The gold medal sans cash is recognition that public service is its own reward and helps explain why journalists still flock to a profession others think is dying. And they do it for very modest financial remuneration.

The awards, of course, were announced a few weeks ago so there were no surprises Thursday as newspapers such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and the St. Petersburg Times came forward to receive their awards in various categories from Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger.

The surprises were other newspapers singled out for this special recognition. The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y.; the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz.; and the Las Vegas Sun were all long shots but, once the world learned of their contributions to the communities they serve, the surprise was gone and the applause was long and sustained.

The irony is that all this was happening when newspapers are closing their doors because their business models are broken. Advertisers are sitting on their hands and their checkbooks because consumers are missing in action. When prizes are given for the very best that journalism offers, the elephant in the room was the precarious world in which newspapers find themselves because advertisers are spending much less and readers are buying even less than that.

What was clear to all was the absolute necessity of accurate and credible news and information to communities around the country. Pulitzer’s desire almost 100 years ago to recognize outstanding newspaper contributions is as important today as it was when the awards were conceived. I would suggest that good, quality journalism is even more important today because there are so many people who seem willing to accept less from their news sources than the accurate and responsible reporting that was the hallmark of the 20th century. The social and political implications of this “dumbing down” of America should be self-evident.

It isn’t easy acting in the public interest these days. Advertisers have largely disappeared from print, and the Internet has created an entire generation of readers who will read only if it is free. This creates a huge deficit between what it costs to supply accurate news reporting and the revenue to cover those expenses.

While newspapers were being honored for their quality at Columbia University on Thursday, newsrooms across the country were continuing to decimate their ranks because there was no longer money to pay for their operation.

Still, the need increases for vigilance over public institutions and elected officials, critical exposure of policies and practices that may ill serve the American people, and a constant light being shined on decision-making that may draw us into wars and threaten our financial foundations.

These are big issues to deal with and if they are not solved soon, news stories and other information we have come to rely upon in our society will undergo significant change and, I believe, it will not be helpful to our democracy.

But, I digress. I was talking about how proud my family and I are of the people who work every day at the Las Vegas Sun to bring Pulitzer Prize journalism to Las Vegas.

So let me publicly thank Alexandra Berzon, Drex Heikes, Matt Hufman and Dave Clayton for being on the front lines of the Public Service award-winning stories, which I know beyond a doubt saved the lives of Las Vegas construction workers.

There is no greater public service than that.

And, of course, I need to thank the man who is responsible for making all this happen, Managing Editor Mike Kelley. He came to the Sun a dozen years ago with the goal of making our newspaper one of the best in the country.

The Pulitzer Committee confirmed his success last week.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.