WaPo, ProPublica and Chicago Tribune among others honored with SPJ Ethics in Journalism Awards

The following excerpt was sent out from spj.org:

The Society of Professional Journalists is bestowing its Ethics in Journalism Award to Tony Plohetskiof the Austin American-Statesman; Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards of ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune; and William Wan of The Washington Post.

This award honors journalists or news organizations that perform in an outstanding ethical manner demonstrating the ideals of the SPJ Code of Ethics. Winners are selected by members of the SPJ Professional Standards and Ethics Committee and SPJ Board of Directors.

Tony Plohetski is being recognized for his reporting for of the Austin American-Statesman during the Uvalde school shooting. Plohetski was the first journalist to obtain an image from inside the school in June 2022.

Jodi S. Cohen of ProPublica and Jennifer Smith Richards of the Chicago Tribune are being recognized for the project “The Price Kids Pay,” examining how some Illinois schools found loopholes to enforce school discipline. Cohen and Richards traveled thousands of miles to hearings and submitted public records requests but encountered ethical challenges. They faced a pressing ethical question of how much detail about young people should be included to expose the injustice. The nomination letter written by ProPublica senior editor George Papajohn and Chicago Tribune investigations editor Kaarin Tisue noted how the reporters took care to minimize harm.

Washington Post reporter William Wan is being recognized for a series of stories that explored systemic problems for mentally ill youth but also captured the struggle of individuals trapped in those systems. The ethical challenges he faced revolved around intimately reporting on suicide and mental health without further traumatizing the victims, causing a contagion effect or making sure the interviewees weren’t passively written about.

The winners will be honored during the President’s Awards Banquet at the SPJ23 Journalism Convention in Las Vegas, Sept. 30.