Reporter Mark Albert of KSTP-TV, St. Paul/Minneapolis & Illumemag.com Receive Special Citations

by Bob Meyers 0 comments

The National Press Foundation is awarding two Special Citations for high quality journalistic efforts that fell outside the boundaries of its standard award categories.  

Reporter Mark Albert of station KSTP in St Paul/Minneapolis spent more than a year investigating the accidental electrocution of an area Navy enlisted man stationed in Iraq. The electrocution occurred because of faulty electrical work by Iraqi workers supervised by the U.S. military.

His report began, “Minnesota sailor David Cedergren died in Iraq - not from combat, but while simply taking a shower. A year-long 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Investigation … has found that commanders ignored warnings, botched investigations, and failed to protect service members on their own base - where they should have been the safest.” Albert worked with photojournalist Jim O'Connell on the project. The broadcast reports include record searches, video clips and resulted in a change to the way the way military notifies families of their loved one’s death.

“The project represents hard-nosed accountability journalism,” said NPF president Bob Meyers. It is available here: http://kstp.com/article/stories/s1575576.shtml.

Also receiving a Special Citation was www.illumemag.com, which was recognized for the journalistic quality, balance and fairness of its work in covering the Muslim-American community, Meyers said. The site is based near San Francisco. The founder and publisher of the online site is Javed Ali.

The recognition comes a $500 check and a certificate of achievement. The Special Citations will be presented at the 28^th annual NPF awards dinner, March 1, 2011, at the Hilton Washington Hotel. Other winners this year include Andrea Mitchell, NBC News and MSNBC and Albert Hunt, Bloomberg News.

A full list of the winners can be found at www.nationalpress.org/awards. For information about the NPF dinner, contact Kerry@nationalpress.org. For information about NPF and its activities contact bob@nationalpress.org.