MEDILL FACULTY MEMBER HELPS LEAD INQUIRER TEAM TO PULITZER

EVANSTON, Ill., April 16, 2012 -- John Sullivan, senior lecturer and assistant director of Medill Watchdog, co-led the team of Philadelphia Inquirer reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service journalism today. Their project was a seven-part series that explored the widespread violence in the city’s schools.

According to the Pulitzer website, the Inquirer team was recognized for “using powerful print narratives and videos to illuminate crimes committed by children against children and to stir reforms to improve safety for teachers and students.” 

Sullivan proposed the story after reading about kids being pummeled at a Philadelphia-area high school.

“We worked for more than a year gathering evidence that showed that the school system underreported violent incidents and routinely failed to protect teachers and students,” Sullivan said. “As a result, the school district has established a new protocol for reporting serious incidents and crime.”

Earlier this year the project won an award from Investigative Reporters and Editors.  

Last June, Sullivan joined Medill Watchdog, a unique journalism project that brings students from across Northwestern University together in an internship program to work with faculty to investigate systemic problems with the accountability of public officials. Their work has been published in the New York Times and other news sites and is available at www.medillwatchdog.org.

“What the Inquirer did in the series is exactly the type of work (Senior Lecturer and Medill Watchdog Director) Rick Tulsky and I are undertaking at Medill Watchdog,” Sullivan said. “The reporting effort taught me what a diverse group of talented and dedicated reporters can do when harnessed together. It's the same principal at Watchdog.”

Sullivan is the sixth member of Medill’s current full-time or emeritus faculty to receive a Pulitzer either in their own name or as a team member of a news organization, joining Tulsky, Assistant Professor Susan Mango Curtis, Associate Professor Louise Kiernan, Associate Professor Zach Wise and Associate Professor Emerita Mary Ann Weston.

“John has brought to Medill the same reporting excellence and prowess in the ways to use new technology that are exemplified in the stories that won the Pulitzer,” Medill Dean John Lavine said. “I’m sure I speak for all the faculty, students and staff when I say that we’re all just thrilled.”

About Medill

Medill was founded in 1921 and offers programs in journalism and integrated marketing communications. It teaches new techniques essential in today's digital world. Medill is leading the way in training a new generation of multimedia journalists and integrated marketing communications professionals. The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University is named after Joseph Medill, a newspaper man and former Mayor of Chicago.

For more information:
Michael Dizon
Senior Director, Marketing
Medill
(847) 467-2961
michael.dizon@northwestern.edu  

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