Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues
AWARD YEAR: 1997
AWARD NAME: The Whitman Bassow Award 1997
RECIPIENT: Gary Cohn, Will Englund, Perry Thorsvik
AFFILIATION: The Baltimore Sun
HONORED WORK: “The Shipbreakers: Scrapping Ships, Sacrificing Men”
What began as a local story—the bungled scrapping of an aircraft carrier in the Baltimore area—led the reporters to international ports and an exposé of a business called shipbreaking, in which ships laden with toxic substances are broken apart for scrap and in the process pour tons of PCBs, asbestos, and other pollutants into international waterways — while exposing workers themselves to disease and death. After the publication of the Sur’s series, the U.S. Navy suspended plans to scrap American warships overseas.
Citations for Excellence:
Cory J. Meacham
Harcourt Brace & Co.
“How the Tiger Lost Its Stripes”
Paul Raeburn, John Carey, Catherine Arnst, Bruce Nussbaum
Business Week
“1997 coverage of Global Warming”