’04 Goldsmith Prize finalists chosen

Six entries have been chosen as finalists for the 2004 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, which is awarded each year by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The winner of the $25,000 prize will be named at an awards ceremony on March 17 at 8 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

This year’s Goldsmith Prize finalists are as follows:

Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood of the Dayton Daily News for “Casualties of Peace.” For 20 months, Carollo and Hopgood investigated problems in the Peace Corps. Their findings have shown that the assaults against Peace Corps volunteers more than doubled since 1991 and for years the agency concealed the extent of the threat to volunteers, who are mostly women.

Staff of the Gannett New Jersey Newspapers for “Profiting from Public Service.” The Asbury Park Press and six other newspapers of Gannett New Jersey showed the public how New Jersey legislators had turned their part-time public jobs into a multimillion-dollar money machine for themselves, their families, and political backers.

Chuck Neubauer, Richard T. Cooper, and Judy Pasternak of the Los Angeles Times for “The Senators’ Sons.” This team of reporters exposed a growing pattern of U.S. senators helping special interests that pay the lawmakers’ family members hundreds of thousands of dollars as consultants or lobbyists.

David Barstow and Lowell Bergman of The New York Times and Frontline for “Dangerous Business: When Workers Die.” The New York Times investigative series, along with Frontline’s documentary “Dangerous Business,” found that hundreds of employers have killed their workers by willfully disregarding basic safety rules.

Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway of The Washington Post for “Big Green.” Stephens and Ottaway exposed questionable land deals, partnerships with major polluters, and other wayward practices by the Nature Conservancy.

Phil Williams and Bryan Staples of WTVF-TV, Nashville, for “Friends in High Places: Perks of Power.” Through more than 60 reports and three documentaries, WTVF-TV put the spotlight on the ethical conduct of Tennessee public officials, including the governor, state lawmakers, and the president of the University of Tennessee.