TAMPA – Tampa Bay Times Reporters were investigating a story about lead in water at local schools when a source shared a long two-page state health report with dog ears.
These pages show that Hillsborough County has suffered a higher rate of lead poisoning than anywhere else in Florida. An unnamed battery recycler was to blame.
Over the next few years, times Reporters Corey J. Johnson, Rebecca Wallington and Ellie Murray took a closer look at the recycling machine than any regulator has ever had.
They revealed how the only smelter in Florida, run by Gopher Resource, is threatening its employees and the surrounding community. They read 100,000 pages of government and medical records, spent countless hours talking to workers and became experts in lead toxicity.
Related: POISONED – Tampa Bay Times investigation
On Monday, reporters received the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on their series Poison.
“We are extremely proud of our team for their relentless reporting, which has brought about drastic change, making conditions safer for workers and the community,” he said. times editor and vice president Mark Katch. “Through their remarkable and meticulous efforts, Corey, Rebecca and Ellie have uncovered serious problems that would not have arisen otherwise. Their journalism is proof of the importance of an important local newsroom such as times”
Woolington said the team is most proud of the change made by their coverage in Tampa.
“Getting people who have neglected this place to pay attention in a way they never were has been extremely exciting,” she said. “It was surreal to see all the consequences and the consequences – and to see that the courage of these workers led to responsibility.”
Related: Photos: Tampa Bay Times Reporters Win Pulitzer Prize for “Poisonous”
This is the second year in a row that times won the main prize for journalism. Reporters Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedy were recognized in the local category in 2021 for their series “Targeted” for the police program of the sheriff of Pasco County.
Johnson, Wollington and Murray have worked together for most of the two years to study the Gopher Resource plant in East Tampa, where workers recycle car batteries and melt lead to forge new metal blocks.
They describe in detail the exposure to the neurotoxin suffered by Gopher workers, most of whom are black or immigrants. They also showed that the plant has infected the surrounding society.
The investigation of a private company proved to be a particular challenge.
“There weren’t that many public records that are often available for use,” Wollington said. “We had to find a solution.”
This decision came in the form of a federal rule that allows workers to request internal records of air quality and their own medical examinations. Reporters used these reports to gather details from inside the factory, which inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have not visited in five years.
Reporters visited Gopher employees at their homes for weeks. Johnson said many people are afraid of being cut off by their employer and are skeptical of unknown reporters. They probably wouldn’t answer a weird phone call, email, or Facebook message.
“The only way to do that is to knock on their doors. “There were a lot of knocks on the doors where we had to go back and forth before the ice thawed,” Johnson said. “We were neighbors, we were just around the corner, so we can do that.”
All three reporters became certified lead inspectors during their investigation.
“When I went, there were people from industry management, people who had to follow these OSHA regulations,” Murray said. It was not a place for journalists.
Murray and the others examined two thick binding binders to gain proficiency in lead rules.
After the first parts of “Poison” were published, federal and county regulators spent months inspecting the Gopher plant, confirming times“Findings and fines of more than $ 800,000.
Johnson said he was most proud of something that happened out of the public eye. About 18 workers, including some who were afraid to talk to reporters, lined up at the plant after the first publication to ask for their personal health records.
“The story and the reports allowed the most affected people to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and that was probably the most satisfying thing for me,” Johnson said.
Other employees in times the newsroom played key roles in the report, including photographers Martha Asensio-Rine and Luis Santana and video journalists Jennifer Glenfield and James Borchuk. The series was edited by Katch and former investigative editors Kathleen McGrory and Adam Playford.
Designers, copy editors, and engagements involved in the stories included Martin Frobisher, Paul Alexander, Sean Christophe-Jones, Tim Tierney, Greg Joyce, Ashley Day, Joshua Gillin, Dennis Peck, and Scott Brown.
After the publication of the first parts of the series, times estimated that his lead report – dating from school coverage – cost $ 500,000. Since then, that amount has risen to about $ 750,000.
“We are doing this difficult job to change things here at home, but it is exciting that our colleagues consider him one of the best journalists in America,” said Paul Tash. times chairman.
Poison was completed with the support of the local journalism initiative PBS FRONTLINE, which provided partial funding. Sarah Childress and Phil Bennett of FRONTLINE consulted with the team and reviewed draft stories.
Pulitzer Prize winners in journalism, books, drama and music were announced Monday afternoon at Columbia University in New York. times officials gathered at their newsroom in Tampa to watch a live video of the ceremony.
When “Poisoned” was declared the winner, several dozen employees burst into applause. Johnson, Wollington, and Murray held each other in a strong embrace.
“What you did was a real public service,” Katches told the team.
IN times won 14 Pulitzer Prizes, three times in the category of investigative reporting. Lucy Morgan and Jack Reed won in 1985 for stories detailing corruption in Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. times reporters Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier, along with Michael Braga of Sarasota Herald Tribune, won in 2016 for Insane. Invisible. In Danger. “- a series that shows how budget cuts and neglect allow violence to take over Florida’s psychiatric hospitals.
Murray said it was especially special to share the moment with his friends in the newsroom. He, Johnson and Wollington managed to dig in the lead factory just because others times journalists are up to date with other news, he said.
A Pulitzer Prize for a story like this takes an entire edition.
Read the investigative series “Poisoned”.
Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer Prize List
2022: Investigative Report – Corey J. Johnson, Rebecca Wallington and Ellie Murray.
2021: Local reports – Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi.
2016: Local reports – Michael LaForgia, Kara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner.
2016: Investigative Report – Leonora Lapiter Anton and Anthony Cormier from times and Michael Braga from Sarasota Herald Tribune.
2014: Local reports – Will Hobson and Michael LaForge.
2013: Editorial – Tim Nickens and Dan Ruth.
2009: National Reporting – Staff for PolitiFact.com.
2009: Writing feature films – Lane DeGregory.
1998: Fiction Writing – Thomas French.
1995: Editorial text – Jeffrey Good.
1991: Playwriting – Cheryl James.
1985: Investigative reports – Lucy Morgan and Jack Reed.
1980: National Reports – Beth Orsini and Charles Stafford.
1964: Public Service – St. Petersburg Times
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