Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Encyclopedia
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an American
news media
organization established in 2006 that sponsors independent reporting that other media outlets are less willing or able to undertake on their own. The Center's goal is to raise the standard of coverage of global affairs, and to do so in a way that engages both the broad public and government policy-makers. The organization is based in Washington, D.C.
The Center welcomes proposals for reporting projects throughout the world, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported, under-reported or mis-reported in the mainstream American media. The Center's director is former Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jon Sawyer.
The Pulitzer Center is recognized as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
.
, The New York Times
and the Los Angeles Times
. The Pulitzer Center treats the reporting projects as full-blown campaigns, designed to create maximum exposure for the reporting. This entails promoting the projects through social media, partnerships with other websites and organizations, and lectures by the journalists themselves at universities and schools.
. Covering the elections as a freelance reporter for the Washington Times, Athanasiadis was commissioned to report on the elections as part of the Pulitzer Center's goal to "fill in large media gaps." Following his release, Athanasiadis continued to report on the opposition movement in Iran and its activities, despite the risks that it entailed.
wrote it up in The Guardian
. As of October 2011, the Pulitzer Center remains firmly behind Vernaschi's work, although it has withdrawn several images from this and another story (where questions were raised about the ethics of showing the face and genitalia of a child who had suffered genital mutilation) and hosted a debate and discussion about the photographer's working methods, journalistic integrity, and professional ethics.
sponsored Project: Report, a video contest for non-professional journalists. The grand prize winner of the contest, Arturo Perez, received a $10,000 grant for an international reporting project, which he used to travel to Jerusalem and produce a video on dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli youth.
In 2010, the Pulitzer Center and YouTube again teamed up for Project: Report, this time selecting five winners of the grand prize who each received $10,000 grants for international reporting projects. The winners were Samantha Danis, Paul Franz, Elan Gepner, Mark Jeevaratnam, and Alex Rozier.
for new approaches to news and documentary programming, in the arts, lifestyle and culture category. LiveHopeLove.com also won the 2009 Webby Award People's Voice Award for the Art category, was a finalist in the Best Use of Photography category, and was an Officlal Honoree in the Best Visual Design - Aesthetic category. The site incorporated the poetry of Kwame Dawes
and photography of Joshua Cogan. People interviewed by Dawes for the website are inspirations for his poems, and the audience can meet them through photographs and videos on the LiveHopeLove.com.
In 2009, Michael Kavanagh's Pulitzer Center project "War in Congo" for Worldfocus was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award
, and won a Edward R. Murrow
Award for radio writing.
Pulitzer Center coverage of post-earthquake Haiti won the 2011 National Press Club Joan Friedenberg Award for Online Journalism, along with msnbc.com.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
organization established in 2006 that sponsors independent reporting that other media outlets are less willing or able to undertake on their own. The Center's goal is to raise the standard of coverage of global affairs, and to do so in a way that engages both the broad public and government policy-makers. The organization is based in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The Center welcomes proposals for reporting projects throughout the world, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported, under-reported or mis-reported in the mainstream American media. The Center's director is former Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jon Sawyer.
The Pulitzer Center is recognized as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code is the domestic portion of Federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 of the United States Code...
.
Pulitzer Center reporting projects
The Pulitzer Center has sponsored reporting projects on a wide variety of under-reported stories across the globe. The projects incorporate blog posts, multimedia reporting, and multiple pieces that run in major mainstream news outlets such as the St. Louis Post-DispatchSt. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. The Pulitzer Center treats the reporting projects as full-blown campaigns, designed to create maximum exposure for the reporting. This entails promoting the projects through social media, partnerships with other websites and organizations, and lectures by the journalists themselves at universities and schools.
Grants for journalists
The Pulitzer funds international travel costs associated with reporting projects on topics and regions of global importance. Grant amounts for journalists depend on the project and range from $3,000 to $20,000. All journalists, writers or filmmakers, both freelance and staff of any nationality, may apply.Multimedia reporting
The Pulitzer Center bridges traditional and new media to engage the public in as many ways as possible – from print and broadcast outlets to face-to-face community discussion and interactive web-based technology. In December 2007, YouTube editors put the Pulitzer Center at the top of their "News and Politics" page and praised its videos as "some of the most moving journalism you'll find on this site."Pulitzer Center-commissioned journalist Iason Athanasiadis detained in Iran
Following the June 2009 presidential election in Iran, Pulitzer Center-commissioned journalist Iason Athanasiadis was detained for three weeks in Tehran's Evin PrisonEvin Prison
Evin House of Detention is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
. Covering the elections as a freelance reporter for the Washington Times, Athanasiadis was commissioned to report on the elections as part of the Pulitzer Center's goal to "fill in large media gaps." Following his release, Athanasiadis continued to report on the opposition movement in Iran and its activities, despite the risks that it entailed.
Marco Vernaschi's photographs of a dead Ugandan child
In April 2010, the Pulitzer Center came under fire after a grantee and World Press Photo winner, Marco Vernaschi, was accused of requesting that a Ugandan mother exhume her recently deceased child, offering payment after the fact. The allegations were revealed publicly when Brazilian-Norwegian photographer André Liohn traveled to Uganda to report the same story and uncovered evidence to suggest, contrary to a vague photo caption written by Vernaschi, that he was not present at the time of burial and had in essence staged a photo and offered payment in return. After notifying the Pulitzer Center and the photojournalist Anne Holmes, who subsequently removed an interview with Vernaschi that had previously been on her blog, Liohn went public on the journalists' forum Lightstalkers. The story drew more attention when Roy GreensladeRoy Greenslade
Roy Greenslade is Professor of Journalism at City University London and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian....
wrote it up in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. As of October 2011, the Pulitzer Center remains firmly behind Vernaschi's work, although it has withdrawn several images from this and another story (where questions were raised about the ethics of showing the face and genitalia of a child who had suffered genital mutilation) and hosted a debate and discussion about the photographer's working methods, journalistic integrity, and professional ethics.
Board of Directors
- Emily Rauh Pulitzer, President. Chair and founder of The Pulitzer Foundation for the ArtsThe Pulitzer Foundation for the ArtsThe Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis, Missouri opened in 2001 with a building designed by internationally renowned architect, Tadao Ando. The Pulitzer is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard ....
, St. Louis. - David E. Moore, Former Board member, Pulitzer, Inc.
- William Bush, Partner and general counsel BDT Capital Partners previously, Partner-in-charge, Fulbright & JaworskiFulbright & JaworskiThe international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. is one of the largest law firms in the United States with nearly 1,000 attorneys in over 50 practice areas. The firm was founded in Houston in 1919 by R. C. Fulbright, an attorney working in railway regulation, and J.H. Crooker, a litigator...
, New York. - Joel Motley, Managing Director of Public Capital Advisors LLC
- Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Advisory Council
- Bill Berkeley, adjunct professor at the School of International and Public AffairsSchool of International and Public AffairsThe School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University is one of the most prestigious graduate schools of public policy in the world. Located on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the School has 15,000 graduates in more than 150...
, Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Author of The Graves Are Not Yet Filled: Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa. Contributor to such publications as The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, The New RepublicThe New RepublicThe magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, and The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. - John CarrollJohn Carroll-People:*John Carroll , American actor*John Carroll , Australian neoconservative writer*Sir John Carroll , British scientist*John Carroll -People:*John Carroll (actor) (1906–1979), American actor*John Carroll (author) (born 1944), Australian neoconservative writer*Sir John Carroll (astronomer)...
, former editor, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. - William Freivogel, director of Southern Illinois University CarbondaleSouthern Illinois University CarbondaleSouthern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
's School of Journalism. Former Washington correspondent and deputy editorial page editor, St. Louis Post-DispatchSt. Louis Post-DispatchThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
. - Charlayne Hunter-GaultCharlayne Hunter-GaultCharlayne Hunter-Gault is an American journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting Service....
, journalist, currently based in South Africa and reporting for National Public Radio. Formerly a correspondent for CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, PBS NewsHour, and The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. - Geneva Overholser, Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at the University of MissouriUniversity of MissouriThe University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
. Former ombudsman, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. Former editor, Des Moines RegisterDes Moines RegisterThe Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. A separate edition of the Register is sold throughout much of Iowa.-History:...
. - Anthony ShadidAnthony ShadidAnthony Shadid is a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Baghdad and Beirut. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting twice, in 2004 and 2010.-Career:...
, Journalist, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. Winner of the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for his coverage of the Iraq War. Author of Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War.
Partnerships
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting currently partners with Helium.com on an essay contest to promote civic engagement with under-reported international news. Through this partnership, finalists are named Pulitzer Center Global Issues/Citizen Voices Award winners and have their winning essays and short biographies published on the Pulitzer Center's website.YouTube Project: Report
In 2008, the Pulitzer Center and YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
sponsored Project: Report, a video contest for non-professional journalists. The grand prize winner of the contest, Arturo Perez, received a $10,000 grant for an international reporting project, which he used to travel to Jerusalem and produce a video on dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli youth.
In 2010, the Pulitzer Center and YouTube again teamed up for Project: Report, this time selecting five winners of the grand prize who each received $10,000 grants for international reporting projects. The winners were Samantha Danis, Paul Franz, Elan Gepner, Mark Jeevaratnam, and Alex Rozier.
Awards
The Pulitzer Center received the 2009 National Press Foundation Excellence in Online Journalism Award. In September 2009 the Pulitzer Center's multimedia website LiveHopeLove.com won an Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for new approaches to news and documentary programming, in the arts, lifestyle and culture category. LiveHopeLove.com also won the 2009 Webby Award People's Voice Award for the Art category, was a finalist in the Best Use of Photography category, and was an Officlal Honoree in the Best Visual Design - Aesthetic category. The site incorporated the poetry of Kwame Dawes
Kwame Dawes
Kwame Senu Neville Dawes is a poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He currently works as editor-in-chief at the Prairie Schooner. -Life:...
and photography of Joshua Cogan. People interviewed by Dawes for the website are inspirations for his poems, and the audience can meet them through photographs and videos on the LiveHopeLove.com.
In 2009, Michael Kavanagh's Pulitzer Center project "War in Congo" for Worldfocus was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, and won a Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
Award for radio writing.
Pulitzer Center coverage of post-earthquake Haiti won the 2011 National Press Club Joan Friedenberg Award for Online Journalism, along with msnbc.com.