ProPublica wins business and finance Scripps Howard Award

ProPublica’s “The Secret IRS Files” was named the winner in the business and financial category of the 69th annual Scripps Howard Awards.

The series ignited a worldwide debate about wealth and inequality.

The judges wrote, “If you were not outraged by the U.S. tax system before reading this series, you will be when you are done. This kind of courageous and compelling reporting has sparked more than dinner conversations. It has sparked a national conversation about potential changes in the law.”

The other finalists were “Frontline” (PBS) and The New York Times for “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw” and The California Newsroom, KRCB and KQED for “Bankrupt.”

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.