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Source: Alaska Press Club webpage
BEST ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
Judge: Douglas Fischer, Oakland Tribune
Large Papers
No winners. Comments: I am dismayed to report that no submission on environmental coverage from a large paper in Alaska could be considered prizeworthy in 2006. Given the astounding challenges on virtually every aspect of the environment in Alaska – and the exemplary efforts extended to cover them by the state’s small-market papers – this dearth of quality reporting from Alaska’s papers of record is inexcusable. A handful of capable features on environmental issues were submitted. But in a year where global warming went mainstream, the Pebble prospect gathered steam, Lower Slate Lake was sacrificed, the idea of a Tangle Lakes refuge developed, and the Bush Administration continued to roll back Clinton-era restrictions on drilling in the NPR-A, Alaska’s readers got nary a word – at least, not a word the state’s largest papers considered noteworthy. There was no word on growth, on energy development, on climate change, on hunting. This is a shame. Alaskans deserve more.
So I call on reporters in Alaska’s most well-staffed, resource-rich newsrooms to look anew in 2007 at the many challenges to Alaska’s environment. A tempting response is that many of these issues have been covered ad nauseam in prior years. That is no excuse for silence. A journalist’s job is to shed light, find new angles, help advance the debate. On the environment in 2006, Alaska’s best journalists left the issues to languish behind closed doors. This is disappointing.
Small Papers
General comments: Kudos to Alaska’s smallest papers for aggressively and ambitiously tackling the environment in 2006. Had any of these stories appeared under the masthead of the state’s largest papers, I would have been thrilled. And the body of work was impressive: The pool of entries was deep enough to have filled both large and small papers slots with top-shelf examples from the state’s smallest newsrooms. I’m glad to see somebody’s covering the environment in Alaska, and I hope Alaska Press Club officers will indulge my desire to single out two additional pieces with honorable mentions.
1st: “Global warming threatens Northwest Arctic coast,” by Susan B. Andrews and John Creed, The Arctic Sounder. Comments: Years from now 2006 will be known as the year global warming went mainstream. Andrews’ and Creed’s description of Kotzebue’s eroding shoreline, swamped lowlands and efforts to reduce its carbon footprint is a stellar example of how an amorphous, difficult-to-report issue like climate change can be made extremely relevant for local readers. The authors seamlessly mixed the latest science with elders’ observations and the costly challenges facing the borough. Most refreshingly, they did not waste any space on climate naysayers. All together, the piece highlighted the patent ignorance behind the Alaska congressional delegation’s unsustainable stance on climate change.
Read more: www.alaskapressclub.org/index
This Alaska Press Club is an independent professional organization providing continuing ed, recognition and information to print and broadcast reporters across the state. It's a non-profit, volunteer-led club that hosts an annual 3-day conference, ending (yesterday)(and for the mods, that's less than 12 hours from East Coast time, because of the time difference) with an award banquet.
For this gutsy judge to call the large (advertising dependent) papers on the carpet for ignoring environmental news is an outstanding example to the journalism community. As he pointed out, they were "resource-rich" and their job was to shed light, not to leave the issues languishing behind closed doors!
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