From last August to last April, Josh Wolf lived in a cell in the Federal Corrections Institute in Dublin, Calif. Yesterday, he received an award from the University for his outstanding ethics.
Wolf was one of several journalists from across the nation honored Thursday with the 2007 Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism. The award was created at the School of Journalism and Communication in 1999 to honor journalists who practice outstanding ethics under pressure. Though Wolf was absent, several winners were present, including journalists from The New York Times and former journalists from the Santa Barbara News-Press.
The award is typically given in three categories: Collegiate Media, Individual and News Organization. This year, there was no selection in the Collegiate Media category, but several journalists shared awards in the other categories. The judges also awarded two special citations this year. University President Dave Frohnmayer, who was present to congratulate the winners, said he is proud the journalism school gives these special ethics awards.
“These are richly deserved awards,” Frohnmayer said. “They set an example for young, budding journalists.”
The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times received the News Organization award. Both contributed to a story that disclosed information to the public about a U.S. government project designed to access the financial records database of a banking company last year. The two papers share the award for alerting the public when pressured by the government not to publish the information and teaming up to explain the decision in a column. Eric Lichtblau, a reporter for The New York Times, was present to accept the award on behalf of the papers.
In accepting the award, Lichtblau said, “This is a really historic time we’re going through, in the tension between the government and the fourth estate.”
Naming some of the Bush administration’s threats, including using the Espionage Act against journalists, Lichtblau said, “All that has a real chilling effect on doing good reporting in Washington.”
The awards in the individual category went to nine journalists who were the first to resign from the Santa Barbara News-Press when they felt the publisher was interfering with news coverage. The decision is honorable because they were willing to lose their jobs to uphold their ethical values.
Despite the fact that 10 months after leaving the News-Press, former City Editor Jane Hulse is still out of work and it took former Managing Editor George Foulsham two and a half months to find a job with the LA Daily News, Foulsham said, “I don’t think anybody in that group would say they made the wrong decision.”
Both former News-Press employees said their former editor, Jerry Roberts, who left with them, emphasized the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics in the newsroom.
“It’s more than just an issue that comes up in a big way, a grand way, it comes up everyday,” Hulse said.
A special individual citation was given to Josh Wolf, an independent blogger. Wolf served more than eight months in jail when he chose not to surrender his videotape of an anarchist demonstration in San Francisco to a federal grand jury. Wolf was willing to stand up for his first amendment rights, the judges decided, and in doing so exhibited strong ethical values and tremendous bravery.
A second special individual citation was awarded to two North Carolina papers, The Charlotte Observer and Raleigh’s The News & Observer, for their explanation of their involvement in a white supremacy campaign that involved a race riot and coup more than 100 years ago. Both papers published an in-depth explanation of their connection and are honored for their follow-up of an incident that may have been long forgotten.
The Payne Awards are meant to honor journalists who maintain integrity while under pressure and reward actions that instigate trust in the media. Ancil Payne, who died in 2004, established the awards in 1999 at the journalism school. Payne is known for his contribution to ethical journalism as CEO of the King Broadcasting Company. The judges for the award include various professional journalists from across the nation and University faculty members including professor Tom Bivins and Dean Tim Gleason.