The Baltimore Sun wins the James S. Keat Freedom of Information award for a breadth of reporting using public records and data. Two strong nominations were received for this award.
The award is named for Jim Keat, a retired editor and foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, who was a long-time advocate for public information access. Keat was inducted into the MDDC Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2013 and is a former recipient of MDDC’s Distinguished Service Award.
The nominees were judged by a distinguished duo: E.R. Shipp, journalism professor at Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism & Communication and Miranda Spivack, a veteran reporter and editor who specializes in stories about government accountability and secrecy, urban development and immigration.
The judges were impressed by The Sun’s comprehensive look at several different government entities. The Sun journalists make vigorous use of public records standard in their reporting and take full advantage of Maryland’s Public Information Act. They were particularly impressed by the strong reporting regarding questionable challenge coins, the burning rate of vacant homes in Baltimore City and the implementation of body camera programs in Baltimore County.
From their submission letter, The Sun says “these stories and many others build on The Sun’s ongoing commitment to mining public records to write stories that hold leaders and public agencies to account.
Special mention
The Daily Record
Nominated for close coverage of the federal indictment of former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, and collaboration with other news organizations. After months of the presiding judge’s acceptance of defense requests to seal motions, The Daily Record joined with The Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Banner to fight for those records to be made available to the public. These efforts paid off. Virtually all the filing motions were unsealed, and subsequent efforts by Mosby’s defense team to seal her request for a change of venue were rebuffed.
