PULITZER 2006: In 2005, Few Were Asleep at 'The Post'

By: Joe Strupp It was appropriate that The Washington Post chose the rooftop of the legendary Hay-Adams Hotel for its Pulitzer Prize celebration, held just hours after the paper led this year's winners with four prizes ? the largest one-year haul in the newspaper's history. Appropriate because the downtown Hay-Adams' roof overlooks the White House, a bit of symbolism for the paper's winning entries.

"The view from the roof gives us the heart and vision to stand our ground," Post blogger Marc Fisher wrote on the paper's Web site on April 18.

The newspaper's take included prizes in investigative reporting, to James V. Grimaldi, Susan Schmidt, and R. Jeffrey Fisher; beat reporting, to Dana Priest; explanatory reporting, to David Finkel; and criticism, to Robin Givhan. "I am pleased the Pulitzer board handed out so many awards for accountability reporting," says Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. "Being a watchdog on the government is a major part of our job. It is important for American journalism to be doing this."

Each of the winning entries offered a clear example of holding government accountable, uncovering inside stories of official policy, and taking a good dose of heat for the effort ? none more clearly than Priest's CIA "black sites" disclosures, which drew complaints from both supporters of the administration, for revealing the hidden operation, and opponents, who criticized Priest for not releasing the secret prisons' exact locations. Even President Bush weighed in during a meeting with Downie in which he sought to have the story held. "My mission was simple, to describe how the U.S. is fighting the war on terrorism," Priest tells E&P. "In 20 years of reporting at the paper, no story has attracted this kind of attention and controversy."

The Jack Abramoff coverage that took the investigative prize did not simply expose the illegal actions of one lobbyist and his related connections ? it also launched a new effort by Congress to spot suspicious activities by its members.

"I think a lot of journalists wrote it off as one bad apple," Grimaldi says of the Post's first days of Abramoff coverage. "Len Downie had the foresight to see that it was a potential story with a lot of impact." Adds Schmidt, "I am hoping that more and more reporters are really scrutinizing lawmakers and lobbyists. That is a great thing if that is some of the effect."

As for Finkel, he spent four months in Yemen and nearly a year of overall reporting on his three-part series uncovering the impact of U.S. democratizing efforts in the troubled Middle East nation. "I can't think of another paper that would dedicate this much to a project," he says. "This is all I did last year."

Even Robin Givhan's work included a component of accountability journalism as it sought to "transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism," according to the Pulitzer Board. Says Downie, "She is such an interesting and provocative critic," and as a result, she often draws flak.

As for the Post's editor, this year's crop marks his best Pulitzer showing since taking over the newsroom in 1991. With these four prizes, Downie matches the number of Pulitzers (21) tallied by his legendary predecessor, Ben Bradlee. But Downie has collected his in less than 15 years, while Bradlee took 26 years to garner that many. "The numbers are not what is important," he responds. "What pleases me is the range of news this covers. What is important to me is what we do for our readers."

Among the accolades for the editor's achievement was a tip of the hat from another Pulitzer collector, Eugene Roberts, who led The Philadelphia Inquirer to 17 Pulitzers in 18 years and set the standard for high-caliber reporting. He tells E&P the Post would have probably won more this year were it not for the Hurricane Katrina stories: "The Post easily could have won a couple of others. I think Len Downie has been a superb editor ? and we all knew that, even without the Pulitzer."

Downie appreciated Roberts' praise, but his favorite acknowledgement came from Bill Keller, his counterpart at The New York Times, who called and offered congratulations. "He and I talked and agreed we were happy for each other." Still, he was quick to praise the reporters who won the awards, adding, "in each case, the prize could have been as much for their career achievements as for this work."