Bloomberg wins FOI award from IRE

A team of Bloomberg News journalists have won the FOI Award in the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.

“The Fed’s Trillion-Dollar Secret,” was written by Bradley Keoun, Phil Kuntz, Bob Ivry, Craig Torres, Scott Lanman, David Yanofsky, Donal Griffin, Greg Stohr and Christopher Condon.

The judges wrote, “This is accountability reporting at its best. In the wake of the near collapse of the nation’s financial system, Bloomberg News sought important records from the Federal Reserve about loans made to some of the nation’s biggest banks. The Federal Reserve refused, and Bloomberg sued under the Freedom of Information Act. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to overturn the lower court’s decision. IRE commends Bloomberg News for its efforts to provide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most powerful and secretive industries in American society.”

Contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working journalists. The IRE Awards program is unique among journalism contests in the extent of its efforts to avoid conflicts of interest. Work that includes any significant role by a member of the IRE Board of Directors or an IRE contest judge may not be entered in the contest.

The IRE Awards is the annual contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. recognizing the best in investigative reporting by across multiple media platforms. The awards were established in 1979 and have honored the best in investigative journalism annually for the past 30 years. The top award given is the IRE Medal.

See all of the winners here.