(The following report is from the New York Times, with additional information from BLET editors.)
NEW YORK — New York Times reporter Walt Bogdanich won a Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting his series on safety issues in the railroad industry.
The judges honored Mr. Bogdanich for his series “Death on the Tracks,” which revealed that some major railroad companies sidestepped responsibility for grade-crossing fatalities by destroying or losing evidence and failing to report hundreds of accidents, and also showed the ineffective oversight by government regulators. Mr. Bogdanich, 54, conducted hundreds of interviews in the 15-month investigation, which began in 2003, “and the real challenge,” he said, “was to try to get documents for every serious allegation we made.”
After the series began appearing, the Transportation Department opened a sweeping investigation of federal oversight of railway safety.
”I hope that this prize encourages people to read the stories and encourages journalists to start looking at stories that are not the sexy topic of the day. I think we gave a voice to people who had no voice, ” Mr. Bogdanich said.