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Bruce Rushton from The State Journal-Register (Ill.) has been named News Writer of the Year for Division A in the 2009 Best of GateHouse contest.
About his entry
Bruce Rushton’s hard-edged and eye-opening reporting shines a light into corners that governments and other institutions would rather leave dark. This reporter’s entry included investigations into police files, capital spending and public-records law. Rushton, last year’s winner in this category, scoured internal-affairs files of area police agencies that had been opened by a court ruling. His analysis revealed that a county sheriff’s deputy had dozens of complaints against him, faced several lawsuits and was accused of behavior that bordered on criminal. Reporting on Illinois’ $31 billion capital spending plan, Rushton discovered that despite the state’s enormous budget deficit, legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn gave millions of dollars in state money to private organizations, including religious groups – an action in direct violation of the Illinois Constitution. In his work during Sunshine Week, Rushton found that Illinois public records law is filled with loopholes and vagueness that make it difficult to obtain documents – in this case, reports detailing the drunken-driving arrest of a city parks director.
Judges’ comments
Judges chose Rushton for his “consistently first-rate” reporting. “Rushton’s work — time-consuming and methodical — is the kind of accountability journalism that is shoved aside all too easily as news organizations struggle with shrinking staffs. But it’s also the sort of work that voters will remember when they go to elect the next sheriff, governor and Legislature. Rushton’s work makes a difference.”
Finalists
Ed Balint,The Repository, Canton, Ohio
Jennifer Fusco, Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.
Maria Papadopoulos, The Enterprise, Brockton, Mass.
Special recognition
Robert Wang, The Repository, Canton, Ohio
Bruce Rushton from The State Journal-Register (Ill.) has been named News Writer of the Year for Division A in the 2009 Best of GateHouse contest.
About his entry
Bruce Rushton’s hard-edged and eye-opening reporting shines a light into corners that governments and other institutions would rather leave dark. This reporter’s entry included investigations into police files, capital spending and public-records law. Rushton, last year’s winner in this category, scoured internal-affairs files of area police agencies that had been opened by a court ruling. His analysis revealed that a county sheriff’s deputy had dozens of complaints against him, faced several lawsuits and was accused of behavior that bordered on criminal. Reporting on Illinois’ $31 billion capital spending plan, Rushton discovered that despite the state’s enormous budget deficit, legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn gave millions of dollars in state money to private organizations, including religious groups – an action in direct violation of the Illinois Constitution. In his work during Sunshine Week, Rushton found that Illinois public records law is filled with loopholes and vagueness that make it difficult to obtain documents – in this case, reports detailing the drunken-driving arrest of a city parks director.
Judges’ comments
Judges chose Rushton for his “consistently first-rate” reporting. “Rushton’s work — time-consuming and methodical — is the kind of accountability journalism that is shoved aside all too easily as news organizations struggle with shrinking staffs. But it’s also the sort of work that voters will remember when they go to elect the next sheriff, governor and Legislature. Rushton’s work makes a difference.”
Finalists
Ed Balint,The Repository, Canton, Ohio
Jennifer Fusco, Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.
Maria Papadopoulos, The Enterprise, Brockton, Mass.
Special recognition
Robert Wang, The Repository, Canton, Ohio
