The Salem News has won the 2010 Thomas K. Brindley Award for public service journalism for its coverage of the embattled Essex Regional Retirement Board, The Associated Press announced yesterday.
Reporters Chris Cassidy and the late Steve Landwehr were honored for their work uncovering widespread abuse in a retirement system funded by millions of taxpayer dollars. Their work revealed violations of the state Open Meeting Law, illegal campaigning, irregular voting practices and soaring legal bills.
Over the last year, these stories triggered state investigations, disciplinary action and calls for Executive Director Timothy Bassett to resign. Bassett was fired in March, and the board now has a new executive director and a revamped board. In response, the state Legislature has passed reforms to prevent similar abuses in the future.
"This series demonstrates what community newspaper journalism is all about: standing up for the people," wrote one of the contest judges. "... Perhaps even more important is that this series resulted in a massive overhaul of this once obscure agency."
News of the award was bittersweet; Landwehr, a longtime reporter with the Salem News, died Tuesday, one day before the award was announced.
The annual Thomas K. Brindley Award is named for the late managing editor of The Fall River Herald News and is handed out by the New England Associated Press News Executives Association. It is awarded to newspapers with circulations under 40,000.
Earlier this month, for "Far From Home," a four-day series about homeless families living in Danvers motels, reporters Stacie N. Galang, Ethan Forman, Matthew K. Roy and Amanda McGregor won first place in the Enterprise category of the association's annual contest. The pictures that illustrated that series also earned staff photographer Deborah Parker third place in the Photo Story category.
For his Lives column, reporter Steve Landwehr won second place in the Local Column category. Lives, which tells the stories of people who have died recently, runs every Monday.
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