Sacramento Bee wins freedom of information award for public records reporting in 2021
The Society of Professional Journalists honored The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday with an award recognizing the newspaper for its investigative reporting and use of public records in 2021.
The SPJ Northern California Chapter’s Freedom of Information Committee selected The Bee for a James Madison Freedom of Information Award, awarded each year to a small number of journalists and organizations for “significant contributions to advancing freedom of information and expression.”
The Bee took home the win in the category for print and digital journalism by large publications.
“The James Madison Freedom of Information Award is a testament to our journalists’ unwavering commitment to ensuring access to public records and protecting the public’s right to know,” said Colleen McCain Nelson, The Bee’s executive editor.
“This important work is a team effort in The Sacramento Bee newsroom, and we’re honored to receive this award from SPJ NorCal.”
The committee cited reporting by journalists Sam Stanton and Wes Venteicher on the scheme to defraud the California Department of Public Health’s Office of AIDS; as well as Ryan Sabalow’s report on an endangered wolf shot to death in Northern California.
It also recognized The Bee’s use of public records to report on the COVID-19 pandemic, including reports by Sabalow, Jason Pohl and Phillip Reese on the incompleteness of COVID-19 death data in the state health department database; and by Sabalow and Pohl on the Placer County Sheriff’s Office falsely linking a resident’s death to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The SPJ committee noted The Sacramento Bee’s legal victories in two lawsuits initiated by the newspaper: one in the AIDS fraud scandal; and the other involving the 2018 fatal shooting of Darell Richards by the Sacramento Police Department, which prompted the city to release new video from the incident.
“The Sacramento Bee advocated for access to public records for exceptional reporting across its newsroom,” SPJ NorCal wrote in its announcement of the award.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 1:01 PM.
