The Center for Public Integrity's response to ABC News
On April 14, 2014, Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his investigation detailing controversial denials of black lung benefits to coal miners. On April 15, ABC News President Ben Sherwood sent a letter to the Center's Executive Director William Buzenberg calling on the Center to ask the Pulitzer committee to add the names of two ABC journalists to the award. Sherwood's letter has been shared with members of the press and the Center's board.
This is our response to Mr. Sherwood. We have also written to the Pulitzer Prizes administrator, Professor Sig Gissler.
Dear Ben,
Thank you for your letter of last night regarding the black lung investigation, which was also sent to our full Board of Directors and the news media. I have to assume this is all part of an unfortunate PR campaign by ABC News.
It is curious that you repeatedly reference dictionary definitions of “integrity” in an apparent attempt to play off the Center’s name and imply hypocrisy. In fact, it is the behavior of ABC that should give rise to questions about honesty and moral uprightness.
Though you have framed the issue as the Center seeking to diminish ABC’s contributions, the reality is quite the opposite: ABC is seeking to take credit for a large body of work that it did not produce. These are the facts, as confirmed under the very strict Pulitzer Prize rules by the Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler again just yesterday:
Bill: I've reviewed the entry again. It is overwhelmingly Hamby's work and was entered by the center in conformance with our rules on limited partnerships (SEE BELOW). The rules expressly state that the eligible entity must do the preponderance of the work; specific elements produced by the ineligible entity (such as ABC video) cannot be entered; and if there is a prize it will go ONLY to the eligible organization that submitted the work.
Related: Center wins first Pulitzer Prize
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
