Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues
AWARD YEAR: 2004
AWARD NAME: The Whitman Bassow Award 2004
RECIPIENT: Jane Perlez
AFFILIATION: The New York Times
HONORED WORK: “Indonesia: Poisoning Buyat Bay”
From a strong group of submissions, the judges selected the work of Jane Perlez of The New York Times for exposing an environmental hell created in Indonesia by the world’s largest gold mining company. In a series of articles, Perlez detailed evidence in the village of Buyat Bay of skin tumors, rashes, breathing difficulties, and headaches. She documented how mining operations by Newmont Mining Corporation allegedly damaged fishing waters vital to natives. Until the Times series appeared the Indonesian government and the mining company had turned a deaf ear to the problem. This series forced the government to take legal action against Newmont.
Citations for Excellence:
Daniel Glick, Fen Montaigne, Virginia Morell
National Geographic
“Signs From Earth”
Charles Wohlforth
North Point Press (Farrar, Straus And Giroux)
“The Whale And The Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change”