Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Announcement from Dennis FitzSimons

Dear Fellow Employee,

  • At the Times, staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss and former staff member Usha Lee McFarling earned the Polk for environmental reporting. Their five-part series, “Altered Oceans,” investigated alarming problems caused by changes in water chemistry due to agricultural and industrial waste. The articles, along with video, are available at latimes.com/oceans <http://www.latimes.com/oceans>.

  • Sun national correspondent Robert Little won a Polk for medical reporting based on his articles about an experimental drug used on U.S. service members in Iraq. The three-day series, “Dangerous Remedy,” revealed that 1,000 soldiers have received the blood coagulant drug and detailed the cases of three wounded soldiers who were treated, two of whom died after suffering blood clots. The full series is posted at baltimoresun.com <http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.polk20feb20,0,660250.story>.

  • The Hartford Courant’s Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman won a Polk in the military reporting category for their series on flaws in the treatment of soldiers with mental illnesses. “Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight,” in four parts, investigated numerous non-combat deaths in Iraq that might have been prevented through better mental health screening by the U.S. military. Lisa and Matthew recently earned another national honor for this series, the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative journalism. To see the series and accompanying photo galleries, visit courant.com/unfit <http://www.courant.com/unfit>.

Please join me in congratulating our Polk Award winners. Their extraordinary efforts reinforce Tribune’s commitment to great journalism.

Sincerely,
Dennis

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