Mother Jones reporter wins Polk for Romney story

(AP) Mother Jones reporter wins Polk for Romney story
NEW YORK

The reporter for Mother Jones magazine who broke the story of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s remarks that 47 percent of Americans “believe they are victims” is among the winners of the 64th annual George Polk Awards in Journalism.

David Corn, Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief, received the political reporting prize for his work, which shook up the campaign when he reported on the remarks in September.

The awards were announced Monday by Long Island University. Winners also include journalists from Bloomberg News, The New York Times, CBS News, McClatchy Newspapers, GlobalPost, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, the Maine Sunday Telegram, “Frontline,” and the nonprofit California Watch.

Among the top prizes in U.S. journalism, the Polk Awards were created in 1949 in honor of CBS reporter George W. Polk, who was killed while covering the Greek civil war. This year’s awards will be given out April 11.

Stories on China won David Barboza of The New York Times as well as the staff of Bloomberg News the award for foreign reporting. Barboza’s three-part series looked into the financial assets of government officials and their families. Bloomberg News put together a series of stories looking at China’s elites and their wealth.

China was also the subject for an award-winning television news report by CBS News correspondent Holly Williams and cameraman Andrew Portch. They covered Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

Coverage of Syria won awards for war reporting and video reporting. David Enders, Austin Tice and the staff of McClatchy Newspapers were awarded the war reporting prize for their coverage of the war and its factions. Tracey Shelton of GlobalPost was honored with the video reporting prize for her work showcasing the human impact of the conflict.

John Hechinger and Janet Lorin of Bloomberg News won the national reporting award for a yearlong series that looked at abuses in the system for financing higher education, while the local reporting award went to Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for reporting on a Milwaukee man who died in police custody after repeatedly telling officers he couldn’t breathe.

Law enforcement’s use of young confidential informants became the subject of a piece by Sarah Stillman of The New Yorker, for which she won the magazine reporting prize.

A 10-month investigation into drug abuse and mismanagement at New Jersey’s privatized halfway houses earned Sam Dolnick of The New York Times the award for justice reporting.

Ryan Gabrielson of California Watch won the state reporting prize for a series looking at how abuse at state clinics was poorly monitored and investigated by the state office responsible for doing so.

The Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey won the medical reporting award for a series about the practices of the pharmaceutical industry that can be dangerous to patients.

David Barstow of The New York Times, working with Mexican reporter Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab, traveled across Mexico to look at Wal-Mart’s activities and the lengths to which the company’s executives would go to get their goals accomplished. The duo won the business reporting award.

The education reporting award went to Colin Woodard of the Maine Sunday Telegram for reporting how for-profit online education companies are affecting the state’s digital education efforts.