8 newspapers finalists in Freedom of Information Awards

By The Associated Press

08.01.02

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NEW YORK — Eight newspapers were selected as finalists in the 2001-2002 Freedom of Information Awards competition of the Associated Press Managing Editors.

The work includes an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by a Boston priest that has ballooned into a major national story involving the Roman Catholic Church; several instances of official corruption; illegal campaign activity, and investigation of a murder during a civil rights riot that resulted in the indictment of a mayor 32 years later.

The winner will be announced at the association's annual conference Oct. 23-26 in Baltimore.

"The entries illustrated the breadth of the importance of Freedom of Information laws and applications, especially to the general public," said Bill Felber, executive editor of the Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury and chairman of APME's Freedom of Information Committee. He announced the awards yesterday.

Here are the eight finalists from a total of 46 entries:

• The Journal News, White Plains, N.Y., for various FOI probes, each of which resulted in the removal of high-ranking local officials.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for "Dying in Darkness," an investigation into the care given by the state of Georgia to the mentally retarded living in group homes.
• The Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, for its exposure of illegal campaign activity within the Wisconsin Legislature.
• The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, Calif., for its investigation into the criminal backgrounds of day care center employees in California, and the state's refusal to make those records available to parents.
• The Boston Globe, for its exposure of the scope of the problem of abusive clergy within the Boston archdiocese.
• The York (Pa.) Dispatch/Sunday News, for its investigations in the 1969 murder of a woman during a civil rights riot, resulting in the indictment of the mayor on a charge of murder.
• York (Pa.) Daily Record, for its investigations into the same case.
• The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, for its investigation into the issue of medical malpractice within the state.

The contest covers work published or pursued from July 1, 2001, to June 30. In addition to Felber, judges were Caesar Andrews, president of APME and editor of Gannett News Service, McLean, Va.; Peggy Kuhr, APME conference chairman and Knight Chair in Journalism, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Kansas; and David Ledford, executive editor, The Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. All are officers or directors of APME.

Judges did not have entries in the competition. The full APME board of directors ratified the finalists and winner during a weekend meeting.

The APME is an organization of editors and managing editors of the AP's more than 1,500 member newspapers.

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