Railroad news articles win a Pulitzer

[Anonymous]

The Pulitzer prize in national reporting, one of the highest honors in journalism, wne to Walt Bogdanich of the New York Times for a series of articles on grade-crossing deaths and railroads' attempts to evade responsibility.
The same stories previously won the prestigious Investigative Reporters & Editors award and the Polk award. The Pulitzer is Bogdanich's second.

[daveklepper]

But if I remember correctly, the stories were highly prejudiced as anti-rail, with no consideration that the trains in most cases were their first and that in most cases it is driver irrisponsibility that is at fault. Granted some railroads, including the UP, were deficient in maintenance, but if I remember correctly he tended to blame the railroads almost completely, which is contrary to facts.

[Hugh Jampton]

"Never let facts get in the way of a good story" - a quote I heard but can't remeber where.

[Anonymous]

Probably wouldn't hurt to remember who the Pulitzer Prize is named for..........and what he's famous for[:-,]

[greyhounds]

QUOTE: Originally posted by drephpe

Probably wouldn't hurt to remember who the Pulitzer Prize is named for..........and what he's famous for[:-,]

Well, I "read somewhere" that Pulitzer was famous for Yellow Journalism. For example: J.D. Rockefeller was a Good Man.

Now, if you messed with his business, he'd fight you. Morally. He was a devote Baptist. But he wouldn't let you take his customers, he'd fight. Morally he'd fight, as defined by his time.

And nobody has done more good for more people with the money he earned than Rockefeller did.

Pulitzer went after Rockefeller. Just because he could. Kind of like this writer for the New York Times.

Rockefeller's father was still alive. Born in the early 1800's, the father was a charletan doctor and a bigamist who had deserted J.D.'s mother and left J.D. to feed the family.
(the father is burried in Freeport, IL)

Pulitzer sought to disgrace Rockefeller, just because he could, by finding his father and "exposing" the situation. No purpose would be served by such an "exposure". Other than to gain publicity for Pulitzer. That's the kind of man Pulitzer was, and that's the kind of "Prize" he established. And this writer for the New York Times has justly deserved such a tarnished "Prize".

My source for this information is "Titan", a biography of John D. Rockefeller written by Ron Chernow.

[spbed]

Congrats to the NY Times & the reporter. Just goes to prove that the NY Times motto of "all the news fit to print" works in this case. [:p][:o)]

Originally posted by lfish

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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