2006 Payne Awards Winners

Eugene, Oregon— The (Spokane, Washington) Spokesman-Review and New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald, winners of the 2006 Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism will be honored this Thursday, May 25, at 2:00 P.M. in the Knight Library Browsing Room on the University of Oregon campus.

The Spokesman-Review will receive the News Organization Award for its deliberate reporting process in its investigation of Spokane Mayor Jim West.  More than 150 stories exploring allegations of illicit sexual behavior and abuse of power were published by the paper during a seven-month period leading up to West’s recall in December of 2005.  The paper hired a forensic computer specialist to help identify West on the Gay.com website—a decision that has been criticized by many. The Payne Judges cited the paper’s careful consideration of ethical issues and transparency in explaining its decision-making process, both in the paper and on its website.  Reporters Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn-Steele will accept the award.

Kurt Eichenwald of The New York Times will accept the individual award, which he received for preserving the editorial integrity of an important story while reaching out to assist his source, Justin Berry, in reporting on Berry’s involvement in child pornography as a thirteen-year-old boy.  Eichenwald and The Times did not stop with reporting the story but assisted Berry, then 18, in escaping the pornography trade and rehabilitating himself as well as facilitating Berry’s participation in prosecuting the adults in the porn ring.

In both cases, the judges were impressed by the number of significant ethical decisions faced in the course of reporting the stories, the “transparency” of the winners’ decision-making processes, and, in both cases, the journalists’ sensitivity to the issues surrounding the stories. 

The Times Republican of Hayes Center, Nebraska (pop. 240) received a special citation that was presented last month at a meeting of the Nebraska Press Association. The paper, with a circulation of 795, was threatened with the loss of advertising and legal notices revenue by proponents of a bond measure if it continued to report both sides of a heated bond issue.

The judges did not select a collegiate media winner for 2006.

“Journalism today faces significant pressures on many fronts,” Tim Gleason, Edwin L. Artzt Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, says.  “With this year’s nominations, it was heartening to see evidence of careful ethical decision-making in so many newsrooms.  The goal of the Payne Awards is to illuminate and encourage such behavior, and the winners represent the best examples of this behavior.”

Ancil Payne, a legend in Seattle broadcasting, established the Payne Awards at the School of Journalism and Communication in 1999 to “to honor the journalist of integrity and character who reports with insight and clarity in the face of political or economic pressures and to reward performance that inspires public trust in the media.” Payne, who died in October 2004, was former CEO of KING Broadcasting; under his leadership, the company developed a national reputation for its commitment to ethical journalism.

Judges for the Payne Awards include Assistant Professor Wendy Wyatt, University of St. Thomas; Professor Tom Bivins, John L. Hulteng Chair of Media Ethics, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication; Joann Byrd, member of the Pulitzer Prize board and retired Editorial Page Editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Aly Colón, Ethics Group Leader and Diversity Program Director, The Poynter Institute; Everette Dennis, Professor/Area Chair for Communications and Media Management and  Director for the Center for Communications at Fordham (New York) University’s Graduate School of Business; Tim Gleason, Edwin L. Artzt Dean and Professor, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication; Larry Grossman, author and former president of NBC and PBS; Mark Trahant, Editorial Page Editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer; and Mark Zusman, Editor, Willamette Week.

The awards event will be held Thursday, May 25 at 2:00 P.M. at the Knight Library Browsing Room on the University of Oregon Campus. The Ruhl Symposium for Ethics in Journalism will be held that afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Both are free and open to the public.