Failures Before News Today

Tribune reporter Cecilia Reyes and BGA reporter Madison Hopkins collaborated on "The Failures Before the Fires," a two-year investigation called "a piercing examination of the citys long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths."

Robservations on the media beat: The Chicago Tribune and the Better Government Association shared the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting Monday. Tribune re

Cecilia Reyes and Madison Hopkins win top prize for their powerful and painstaking investigation into fatal Chicago fires.

This yearlong investigation, a collaboration between the Tribune and the Better Government Association, revealed that at least 61 people died in residential fires in Chicago where officials were aware of fire hazards in the buildings but failed to ensure they were addressed.

The win comes more than 40 years after BGA nearly won a Pulitzer for opening a fake bar with the Chicago Sun-Times to uncover corruption

The Better Government Association has won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative stories with The Chicago Tribune that exposed the failure of Chicago city officials to keep tenants safe from deadly fires in dangerous residential buildings.

The judges of the Pulitzer Prizes looked well beyond Americas national newsrooms as they recognized some of the best journalism of 2021.

The awards were for public service and feature reporting, photography, lifetime achievement, and reporting “of ordinary people.”

Two projects, including "Cabrini-Green: A History of Broken Promises" and "Failures Before the Fires,” were awarded second place in two categories for online journalism. The Fires project, with the Chicago Tribune, was honored for the collaboration. The Cabrini Project was named in a category for online only journalism.

Nonprofit news is on the march. There are questions and concerns, but also optimism.