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The Pulitzers by the numbers

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The Pulitzers by the numbers

POSTED: Monday, April 20, 2009, 9:29 PM

Journalism handed out the Pulitzer Prizes today, the first of the post-newspaper era. Normally, I have some deep commentary about the awards and what it all means about the state of the media or the state of the nation. This year, not surprisingly, no breakout trends emerge, so here's a simple look by the numbers:

1: Number of Pulitzer Prize-winning photos at which I was present, (top), part of the winning portfolio in feature photography from Damon Winter of the New York Times. It was taken at at Barack Obama rally at Widener University in Chester on Oct. 28, 2008, duriing that 47-hour rain delay before the Phillies won the World Series.

5. Number of Pulitzers won by the New York Times -- sure to be an annual event as the number of papers with the resources to cover major national and international stories and the arts dwindles down to a handful, especially the Times.

1. Number of Pulitzers awarded to a story bashing NBC News that was widely celebrated by liberals everywhere, except by the liberals with shows on MSNBC.

3. Number of Pulitzers that went to newspapers that substantially reduced their print operation over the last year, to the Las Vegas Sun, Detroit Free Press, and the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune.

2. Number of Pulitzers inspired by oversexed politicians (Eliot Spitzer, Kwame Kilpatrick).

0. Number of Pulitzers awarded to stories inspired by the biggest story of the year, the global financial crisis.

1. Number of Pulitzers awarded to journalists who were later laid off:

Giblin was laid off in October, when the Phoenix-area paper reduced its staff by 40 percent, shrunk its distribution area and cut back publication to four days a week. (It has since pulled back to three days.) So was Patti Epler, the Tribune's metro editor, who oversaw the project. Along with two other Tribune refugees, they launched the Arizona Guardian, a website covering Arizona politics and government, earlier this year.

2. Number of Pulitzers awarded to a newspaper owned by a non-profit trust (the St. Petersburg Times).

0. Number of Pulitzers awarded to newspapers currently in Chapter 11.

Will Bunch @ 9:29 PM Permalink | 5 comments

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Comments (5)

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:10 PM, 04/20/2009

Actually, bill a., Will already has (part of, at least) a Pulitzer. I don't think they really have acceptance speeches, the way they have for Oscars, Tonys, Emmys, Grammies, etc. Most reporters are not really performers, although some a pretty good at talking.

— Archimedes

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:39 AM, 04/21/2009

Actually, we really should have something like the Oscars for TV spokes models and talking heads that pose as journalists. How about Best Performance in a Fabricated News Piece as a category? And Most Original Straw Man Argument? We could call them the Ruperts!

— Hamlet

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:18 PM, 04/21/2009

Wouldn't work for very long Hamlet. People would get PO'd when Olberman, Matthews, et al. win every award every year.

— legatus

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:27 PM, 04/21/2009

I’m a journalist at the Las Vegas Sun. The Las Vegas Sun did not reduce their print operation at all this year. They just added 40+ web people. The format of the paper did change in 2005 because of a JOA when the Las Vegas Sun became a 8 page paper delivered inside the Las Vegas Review-Journal. But as for this year, there have not been any layoffs at the Las Vegas Sun print, nor did they downsize the size of the paper.

— ajf724

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And your bird can flip
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About this blog

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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