Past Grants 2005 2005JASON BERRY --Wrote at length about Cardinal Roger Mahony's fierce battle to keep secret sensitive documents involving sexual abuse cases. The article appeared in the National Catholic Reporter. Berry also wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times about then-Cardinal Ratzinger's role in the scandal Berry investigated in Vows of Silence . NIC DUNLOP -- The Lost Executioner , a book about the life of Comrade Duch, was published in London by Bloomsbury Publishing. The book examined the life of a man responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 people in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. Duch, like other members of the Khmer Rouge, has never been held accountable and has since disappeared. KATHERINE EBAN --Dangerous Doses , a book about stolen, tainted and counterfeit prescription drugs, was published by Harcourt. Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights , offered this praise: "This is a book that comes along so rarely in non-fiction—brilliantly reported, written with the pace of a potboiler and harrowing in its societal repercussions. In D angerous Doses, Katherine Eban takes us on a journey into the underbelly of the pharmaceutical industry so spooky and strange and sinister and deadly, you will have a hard time believing it is true. But it is, every word, which only makes Dangerous Doses shine even more." An excerpt of the book appeared in Vanity Fair magazine. THE DUNCAN GROUP --"The Cost of Freedom," a video documentary examining the impact of the USA Patriot Act on civil liberties. The 60-minute documentary aired on public television channels across the nation. STEPHANIE MENCIMER -- Recipient of the Fund's 2004 book award for her investigation of the "tort reform" movement, Mencimer engaged in a fierce exchange of views with Stuart Taylor, who reports on legal issues for Newsweek magazine. The argument has played out in The Washington Monthly, CNN's Lou Dobbs program, a website called "Overlawyered" and elsewhere. CHRIS MOONEY --"Blinded by Science," examined the way corporations use the media convention of "balance" to inject bogus scientific theories into news reports. His article was published by the Columbia Journalism Review. JORDAN GREEN -- Completed a series of articles on the Bush administration's enforcement of voting rights laws that appeared in Southern Exposure magazine and its website. MARIAH BLAKE -- Investigated Jonathan Keith Idema, an American vigilante in Afghanistan, and his manipulation of the U.S. press for fame and profit. The article was the cover story in an issue of Columbia Journalism Review. CHARLES LAYTON --Examined devastating budget cuts at the Dallas Morning News in an article published by American Journalism Review . The newspaper laid off 65 reporters after it was caught up in a scandal over its circulation figures. MS. MAGAZINE -- Investigated the treatment of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan in its winter 2004-2005 issue. The article was the work of reporter Kathy Sheridan and photographer Sharron Lovell. MICHAEL FLYNN -- Investigating the U.S. government's activities in Manta, Ecuador, in an article published by in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and on its website. The article revealed that the U.S. is using its anti-drug program to block emigration by impoverished Ecuadorans, with little concern for legal or civil rights. REBECCA CLARREN --Examined wretched conditions at huge, industrial-scale confinement dairies that are still allowed by the USDA to call their milk "organic" in an article published online by Salon magazine PHIL ROBERTSON -- Filed several reports from Iraq, including a gripping account of the death of a respected Iraqi journalist at the hands of a U.S. military sniper. Robertson's reports appear in the online magazine Salon. LORI ROBERTSON --Explored the world of Lee Enterprises, a little-known Iowa-based newspaper chain that recently acquired the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Her article was published by American Journalism Review . TRUDY LIEBERMAN -- Investigated the way in which the pharmaceutical industry is covered by the media in an article for Columbia Journalism Review. JOHN DYER --Investigated the U.S. military's plan to relocate its European bases in Bulgaria and other countries in Eastern Europe in articles published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and several other newspapers. MARIA E. MARTIN --Examined challenges to freedom of the press in Central America aired on National Public Radio as part of its series on Central America since the wars. The half-hour report was carried on the "All Things Considered" program. LEAH SAMUEL --Investigated the Pittsburgh police department's efforts to reform under a federal consent decree, which is about to end. Her report was published by the Pittsburgh City Paper . KEYA ACHARYA --Investigation of the encroachment of government-owned forest land by politically powerful people in India. Her articles were published in Humanscape and Tehelka in India. Back to top2004ALICE HORRIGAN --Investigated crime victims who never receive the restitution they were promised by courts. Unclaimed restitution funds now total more than $100 million according to her account. PHILLIP BABICH --Investigated the federal government's inept response to a disasterous coal slurry accident in a report aired on NPR's "Living on Earth." LIZA FEATHERSTONE -- Examined Wal-Mart's treatment of female employees Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers Rights at Wal- Mart, published by Basic Books. RON CHEPESIUK --Explored the impact of globalization on women garment workers in South Asia in an article for Toward Freedom magazine. CHRISTOPHER BRYSON --Investigated health and environmental concerns surrounding the use of fluoride in drinking water in The Flouride Deception , published by Seven Stories Press. JASON BERRY AND GERALD RENNER --Investigated a sexual abuse scandal that reached the highest levels of the Roman Catholic church. Their book, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II , was published by Free Press. CHARLES LAYTON --Explored lobbying and political activity by major communications firms in a series of articles published by American Journalism Review. STEPHANIE MENCIMER --Investigated "tort reform" in Texas during the governorship of George W. Bush. Her article, "Tort Reform, Lone Star Style," was published by Southern Exposure magazine in print and on-line. ELIZA GRISWOLD --Investigated the strange interplay of forces in a remote area of Pakistan called Waziristan, reputed to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden. Griswold was the first recipient of the Fund's Robert Friedman Award for International Investigative Reporting. Her article was published in the New Yorker . PRATAP CHATTERJEE AND RANIA MASRI --"Occupation Inc." investigated war profiteering by American contractors in Iraq during the early stages of U.S. occupation. Their article was published by Southern Exposure . THOMAS LOWENSTEIN --Two articles calling into question the guilt of Pennsylvania man on death row for the murder of a child. The articles were published by the Philadelphia Citypaper. JIM WYSS --Investigated the massacre of 25 women and children in Ecuador's Amazon forest. They were members of the Tagaeri-Taromenane tribe that has been swept up in violence fueled by illegal logging in the area. His articles were published in the Miami Herald and the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Herald also published several excellent photographs by Wyss. RACHEL SMOLKIN --Examined newsroom cutbacks at newspapers owned by the Tribune Company, now the nation's third-largest newspaper company by circulation. Her article, "Uncertain Times," was published by American Journalism Review . PASCALE BONNEFOY --Investigated torture and abuse at Chile's National Stadium during the Pinochet dictatorship in Terrorismo de Estadio , a Spanish-language book published by Ediciones Chile America --CESOC. Back to top2003ANNE-MARIE CUSAC -- Explored union-busting techniques used by today's employers in "Brazen Bosses," published by The Progressive magazine. ARLENE EDMONDS -- Exposed the practice of social service agencies removing children from their homes solely because their parents are living in poverty. Her article, "Parental Rights: Losing Children to Poverty," was the cover story in the Philadelphia Tribune Magazine . LIZA FEATHERSTONE -- Investigated the treatment of female workers by Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, in "Wal-Mart Values." Her article was the cover story in the Nation magazine. DAN FERBER --Wrote several articles for Science magazine exposing the Bush administration's attempt to politicize the membership of scientific advisory panels. His stories prompted similar articles in the Washington Post, New York Times, Time.com and other publications. KATY RECKDAHL -- Completed a series of articles about the lives of poor people in New Orleans for Gambit , an alternative weekly. The articles often reported on the encounters between police/local authorities and poor people. A vivid example was her article on a police crackdown on kids who tapdance for change on street corners in the Latin Quarter. The police said they were doing it because the kids weren't properly trained as artists. WENDY SUE WILLIAMS -- Completed her investigation of carbon sequestration and other emissions-trading schemes, questioning whether the purposes of the Kyoto treaty are being subverted. Her articles on the subject were published in Scientific American and the Boston Globe. It was also the subject of a lengthy interview with her on National Public Radio's "Living on Earth." SARA BETH MILLER -- Investigated the plight of impoverished Moroccan children who illegally enter the Spanish outpost of Ceuta . The article was published in the news section of the Christian Science Monitor and subsequently was the basis of an expanded piece in the paper's "Ideas" section. JOSEPH ROSENBLOOM --Investigated Tyson Food's employment of illegal immigrants in its plants --and its subsequent exoneration by a jury considering criminal charges --in an article for The American Prospect. TOMRIC NEWS AGENCY -- Completed six articles on looting and corruption, and the possible involvment of Al Qaeda, surrounding Tanzanite. Its articles have been published in the Sunday Observer and The Guardian , both of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and have resulted in cases referred to the country's attorney general and the Commission on Fair Trade Practices for possible action. JIM MORRIS -- Investigated a toxic waste catastrophe in Jersey City. The case involved the widespread dumping of deadly chromium by local industries and twenty years of dithering by environmental agencies about cleaning it up. His story was published by the Dallas Morning News , where he now works. REBECCA CLARREN --"Harvesting Poison" investigated the dangers of pesticides to immigrant farm workers in an article published by High Country News . Her report included an excellent sidebar on the routine, illegal use of child labor on farms. Another version of Clarren's article was published by The Nation . SUN SMITH-HEAVENRICH --Reported on sludge containing toxic chemicals that is sold commercially as "organic" fertilizer. Her article was published by the Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. KOREN CAPOZZA --Investigated toxic chemical contamination at Fort Greely, Alaska --site of a secret U.S. military biological and chemical weapons testing program --in an article published by The Nation. GARRANCE BURKE -- Investigated the long-running conflict in the Chiapas region of Mexico in a lengthy article published on-line by PBS's Frontline / World Fellows program. NILSON MARIANO -- Investigated a secret alliance among military dictatorships in South America during the 1970s in a book, As Garras do Condor, published in Brazil by Editora Vozes. Back to top2002KATY RECKDAHL -- Completed a year-long investigation of juvenile justice in Louisiana, although she is continuing to follow some of the cases she reported. Gambit , an alternative New Orleans weekly. The series included nine stories and sidebars. Reckdahl was named "journalist of the year" by the Louisiana Mental Health Association for her work. KEN SILVERSTEIN --Investigated Leonid Minin and other shadowy arms dealers who sell weapons to terrorists and rogue regimes in the January/February 2002 issue of The Washington Monthly . CAROLYN JOHNSEN --Examined the environmental, economic and social effects of "hog factory" farms in the Midwest in a book titled Raising a Stink. , It was published by the University of Nebraska Press. GALINA GOTUA --Investigated the poisoning of people in the Republic of Georgia by a radiation leak from a Strontium-90 generator. Her article was published by the newspaper Georgia Today , including an English-language version published in the U.S. KATY RECKDAHL -- "Scaling Back," examined devastating budget cuts faced by the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corp., which has argued thousands of civil cases on behalf of the poor over a 35-year period. Another article examined police harassment of kids who tap dance for spare change on street corners, a long tradition in New Orleans, because local authorities have decided they are in violation of the city's panhandling laws. Both articles were published in Gambit, a weekly newspaper. MARY ANN SWISSLER -- "The Marketing of Breast Cancer," investigated the Susan G. Komen Foundation, sponsor of the "Race for the Cure," and its emphasis on finding a medical cure for breast cancer. Her story was published by Southern Exposure magazine and distributed over the Internet by AlterNet.org. JOE RODRIGUEZ --East Side Stories , a photojournalism book examining gang in Los Angeles. His book was published by powerhouse Books. THE ADIRONDAK EXPLORER -- Completed a two-year series of stories about development pressures facing Adirondack Park and the failure of officials to properly address the problem. JIMMIE BRIGGS -- "Guerilla Girls," a story investigating the use of girls as suicide bombers by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka. The story was published by Bust magazine and was the basis for a report aired on ABC's 20/20. Back to top2001NAFTALI MUNGAI --Investigated extensive environmental damage and associated issues of corruption involving titanium mining in Kenya by the Canadian-owned company Tiomin Resources Inc. His article was published in The People (Nairobi). BEVERLY PETERSON -- "Invisible Revolution," a video documentary, examined the raw struggle between young KKK supporters and their anti-racist adversaries. The documentary included an interview with Benjamin Smith conducted shortly before he went on a racist killing spree in the Midwest. The video was first shown on public television in Dayton and subsequently screened at the Sundance film festival and other venues. WALLACE ROBERTS -- Questioned whether California power-generating companies conspired to raise electricity prices by exploiting weaknesses in the state's deregulation law. The article was published in the Sacramento Bee. Roberts was a recipient of the Fund's annual book award for a book investigating the impact of electricity deregulation on consumers. GEOFFREY F.X. O'CONNELL --"The Mystery of the 364 th " reveals the story of a ten-year investigation questioning whether a black WWII Army regiment was massacred at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. Published in Gambit Weekly (New Orleans) April 10, 2001 www.bestofneworleans.com A History Channel documentary on the subject, based on O'Connell's research, will air soon. Versions of the Gambit Weekly story also were published in numerous alternative weeklies around the country. EL ANDAR MAGAZINE -- "Silicone Shame," a series of investigative reports on the health and environmental impact that computer manufacturing has on low-income workers. DAN LA BOTZ --Made in Indonesia: Indonesian Workers Since Suharto published in June 2001 by South End Press: Cambridge, 360 pp. The book is an in-depth examination of Indonesia's labor movement since the overthrow of the Suharto dictatorship and the continuing struggle for democratization and workers' rights. Information is available on the publisher's web site at www.southendpress.org INGRID LOBET --Investigation of the circumstances resulting in the poisoning by carbon monoxide gas of workers at a fruit-packing plant in Washington State in 1997. Broadcast April 29, 2001 on NPR's Latino USA program. Archived at www.lusa.org The documentary won several awards, including the Scripps Award for best broadcast documentary. MARI TSIKELASHVILI --Examination of Russia's confiscation of property and gold owned by Georgia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the apparent collusion of Georgian President Edward Shevardnadze. Published in "ALIA" in January 2001. BRIAN LIGOMEKA --Expose of corruption involving U.S. assistance to Malawi. Among officials implicated in the stories is President Bakili Muluzi, who is alleged to have had ties to a Ugandan national who was to receive a $6 million commission in the award of a U.S.-sponsored national identity card project to a Swiss holding company. Published in The Mirror (Blantyre) in the April 26-30, 2001 issue. Additional stories by Ligomeka were distributed by the African Eye News Service, available at www.allafrica.com ERIC LONGABARDI --"BioWar," an investigation into secret biological/chemical testing conducted by the U.S. military in the 1960s, won top honors in the "Best of the West" Journalism Awards. The two-part investigation, broadcast by CBS Evening News in May 2000, can be seen at http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,235003-412,00.shtml ERNESTO BAZAN --Images of everyday life in Cuba during the "special period" after the fall of the Soviet Union. Published in Vol. 19 #4 of the APF Reporter and available online at www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1904/Bazan/Bazan.html [*] KATY RECKDAHL --The first in a series of stories on the juvenile justice system in New Orleans detailed efforts by two eight-grade students charged with a school shooting to obtain a trial by jury, since the state was trying them as adults. It was published May 22, 2001 in Gambit Weekly . A trial judge subsequently ruled for the students, but the state is appealing. Second in the series, published July 10, was a story about a boy kept incarcerated for four years for the crime of joyriding. The stories are archived at www.bestofneworleans.com JEREMY BIGWOOD --"The Accidental Spy," a first-person account of Bigwood's discovery that the U.S. Government had access to thousands of his photographs taken while working in Central America for the Gamma Liaison news agency from 1984 to 1994, was published in the July/August issue of American Journalism Review. Available at http://ajr.newslink.org/ajrbigjul01.html JANET GARDNER --Documentary on "Operation Babylift," the effort to rescue more than 2,000 infants and children at the close of the Vietnam War, and its enduring impact on their lives and the U.S. families who adopted them. PBS stations will broadcast the documentary nationally in November as part of "National Adoption Month." Information on the project is available at www.gardnerdocgroup.com ALAN LIPKE --"Are We Still Making Progress?" combined elements of a radio documentary on an 1898 race riot in Wilmington, N.C. with a public forum on present day race relations in the area. The two-hour program was broadcast on March 22, 2001 by WHQR-FM, public radio in Wilmington. Public Radio International will broadcast the finished documentary in February 2002. Information about the documentary and Lipke's other projects is available on his web site at http://realityworks.wmnf.org STEVE WEINBERG --A brief profile of the "patron saint" of investigative reporting, Ida Tarbell, published in the May-June 2001 issue of Columbia Journalism Review devoted to "The Investigators." It is available online at http://www.cjr.org/year/01/3/tarbell.asp JOHN KAMAU --"British Bombs Cause Mayhem," reporting on deaths and injuries in rural Kenya caused by munitions used in military training exercises, was published in the June 2001 issue of New Africa magazine. The magazine is available at www.africicasia.com/icpubs although at last check this article was not available online. Another story, "Cover-up of British Bombs," published by Rights Features Service, is available at www.dfn.org/focus/kenya/britishbombs.htm A more extensive article, "Killer Bombs No One Owns" was published June 3, 2001 in The People , a Nairobi newspaper. CHARLES BANDA --Investigated deplorable prison conditions in southern Malawi in eighteen articles published in the newspaper African Witness. The stories detailed widespread cases of disease, malnutrition, extreme over-crowding, rape and murder. In August the president of Malawi released 880 prisoners in an effort to relieve conditions. Banda has received the second half of his grant but is continuing to investigate prison conditions in northern Malawi. LEAH SAMUEL -- Reported on illegal and irregular management practices of the Detroit Public Library system in a story published by the Michigan Citizen. Among other things, Samuel revealed that the library's general fund account is chronically overdrawn, that money is spent without contracts or proper records and that the system operates with virtually no public oversight. KEN SILVERSTEIN -- "U.S. Oil Politics in `The Kuwait of Africa,'" investigated the pillaging of Equatorial Guinea by U.S. oil companies. The article was the cover story in The Nation . KATY RECKDAHL -- Continued her periodic series on the juvenile justice system in Louisiana for the Gambit weekly newspaper with an account of the system's faltering effort to deal with girls, who now account for one of every four juveniles arrested. In October she wrote about allegations of abuse at the Tallulah juvenile prison. KENT PATERSON --Investigated the Bush administration's attempt to relax restraints on the training of Mexican police officers by U.S. law enforcement agencies. The proposed changes would allow "thugs and murderers" into the system and revive practices of torture and disappearance. His story was produced for the Pacific News Service. Back to top2000-Black Mass, The Irish Mob, The FBI and a Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill is the story of John Connolly, an agent in the FBI's Boston office, and James "Whitey" Bulger, godfather of the Irish mob. They grew up together and Connolly had a scheme to bring Bulger into the FBI fold and put himself into the Bureau's big leagues. The book is "the chilling true story of what happened between them-a dark deal that spiraled out of control, leading to uncontested murders and drug dealing, and eventual racketeering indictments for both Connolly and Bulger." Bulger is currently on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. It was published by PublicAffairs. Red Mafiya - How The Russian Mob Has Invaded America by Robert Friedman is an investigative book exposing Russian organized crime, its growing power in the United States and how it has infiltrated US banks and brokerage houses. Published in May 2000 by Little Brown. 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 1999 & 2000 1999 1999 |
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