Synopses & Reviews
No journalism awards are awaited with as much anticipation as the Pulitzer Prizes. And among those Pulitzers, none is more revered than the Joseph Pulitzer Gold Medal. Pulitzer's Gold is the first book to trace the ninety-year history of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, awarded annually to a newspaper rather than to individuals, in the form of that Gold Medal. Exploring this service-journalism legacy, Roy Harris recalls dozens of stories behind the stories, often allowing the journalists involved to share their own accounts. Here are a vivid description of the Boston Globe's uncovering of sexual misconduct by Catholic priests; an analysis of how the New York Times helped the community cope with the 9/11 attacks; and tales of the brilliant coverage of Hurricane Katrina by two wounded papers, the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and the Sun Herald in Gulfport, Mississippi. Readers will recognize some of the stories, like the New York Times's Pentagon Papers exclusive and the Watergate scandal that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein dug up for the Washington Post. But Harris takes his Gold Medal saga through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights struggle, and the Vietnam era before bringing public-service journalism into today's age of environmental and corporate exposes. Among the hidden treasures that come alive: how the Boston Post exposed the original Roaring Twenties Ponzi schemer--dapper, silver-tongued Charles Ponzi himself--and how northern California's tiny, remote Point Reyes Light, thirty years ago, discovered that the Synanon antidrug program had become a dangerous armed cult. (As the Light investigated, one Synanon critic was attacked by arattlesnake that had been stuffed into his mailbox by group operatives, taking the story, and the Light's fame, national.) Through these and other Gold Medal accounts, newspaper teamwork gets its due as a driving factor in great journalism, and Harris acknowledges reporters and editors who may have received little personal attention when their papers received the awards. He also examines the evolution of the judging process since the first Pulitzers in 1917, addressing controversies arising over the public-service selections. At a time when newspaper journalism is severely challenged, story after story illustrates how public-service reporting has been a point of pride for the American press, whether by small-town papers or metropolitan dailies. Pulitzer's Gold offers a new way of looking at journalism history and practice and a new lens through which to view America's own story.
Review
“A gold mine of inspiration for both journalists and non-journalists….Pulitzer's Gold offers marvelous storytelling, real-life adventures, and absolute proof that journalism can change our world for the better.”—Jeffrey Zaslow, co-author, The Last Lecture, and Wall Street Journal columnist
Review
“This well-researched and engrossingly presented study chronicles time-bound cases of award-winning journalism and timeless lessons for news people and citizens who care about reportage with reverberation. Pulitzer’s Gold is first-rate journalism history.”—Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
“It is a must read for those who want an inside look at journalism at its best. There is no higher calling among American newspapers than public service journalism, and Roy Harris delves into it with flair and expertise.”
—Gene Roberts, cowinner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History
Review
“[A] fine contribution to both scholarship and instruction, a book that can be read for fun, consulted for research, and assigned for class.”—Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
Review
“It is loaded with the Aha! moments that make us, as journalists, glad we passed up the big-bucks MBA track to try to save the world instead.”—Nieman Reports
Review
“At a time when the business model of the American newspaper lies broken, this book tells us, by vivid examples, why newspapers are essential to our national well-being. It is a sobering yet inspiring message.”
—John S. Carroll, former Los Angeles Times editor and 1993–2002 Pulitzer Prize Board member
Synopsis
Pulitzer’s Gold is the first book to trace the ninety-year history of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, awarded annually to a newspaper rather than to individuals. Harris recalls dozens of “stories behind the stories,” often allowing the journalists involved to share their own accounts. Readers will recognize some of the stories, like the New York Times’s Pentagon Papers exclusive and the Watergate scandal that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein dug out for the Washington Post.But Harris takes his Gold Medal saga through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights struggle, and the Vietnam era before bringing public-service journalism into today’s age of environmental and corporate exposés. Story after story illustrates how for small town papers or metropolitan dailies alike, public-service reporting is a point of pride for the American press.
Synopsis
No journalism awards are awaited with as much anticipation as the Pulitzer Prizes. Andamong those Pulitzers, none is more revered than the Joseph Pulitzer Gold Medal. Pulitzer’s Gold is the first book to trace the ninety-year history of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, awarded annually to a newspaper rather than to individuals, in the form of that Gold Medal. Exploring this service-journalism legacy, Roy Harris recalls dozens of “stories behind the stories,” often allowing the journalists involved to share their own accounts. Harris takes his Gold Medal saga through two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights struggle, and the Vietnam era before bringing public-service journalism into a twenty-first century that includes 9/11, a Catholic Church scandal, and corporate exposés. Pulitzer’s Gold offers a new way of looking at journalism history and practice and a new lens through which to view America’s own story.
About the Author
“A gold mine of inspiration for both journalists and non-journalists….Pulitzer's Gold offers marvelous storytelling, real-life adventures, and absolute proof that journalism can change our world for the better.”
—Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor, The Last Lecture, and Wall Street Journal columnist
“This well-researched and engrossingly presented study chronicles time-bound cases of award-winning journalism and timeless lessons for news people and citizens who care about reportage with reverberation. Pulitzer’s Gold is first-rate journalism history.”—Philadelphia Inquirer
It is a must read for those who want an inside look at journalism at its best. There is no higher calling among American newspapers than public service journalism, and Roy Harris delves into it with flair and expertise.”
—Gene Roberts, cowinner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History
“[A] fine contribution to both scholarship and instruction, a book that can be read for fun, consulted for research, and assigned for class.”—Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
“It is loaded with the Aha! moments that make us, as journalists, glad we passed up the big-bucks MBA track to try to save the world instead.”—Nieman Reports
“At a time when the business model of the American newspaper lies broken, this book tells us, by vivid examples, why newspapers are essential to our national well-being. It is a sobering yet inspiring message.”
—John S. Carroll, former Los Angeles Times editor and 1993–2002 Pulitzer Prize Board member