AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Monterey County Weekly, Sacremento News & Review Win SPJ Freedom of Information Awards

february 3, 2016 04:00 pm

The Northern California Society of Professional Journalists has announced that Monterey County Weekly and Sacramento News & Review are among the winners of its James Madison Freedom of Information Awards.

Sacramento News & Review was recognized in the News Organization category for its legal fight to obtain Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's emails. Monterey County Weekly editor Mary Duan and assistant editor Sara Rubin were recognized with Journalist Awards:

Duan and Rubin exposed the decades-long cover-up of child molestation allegations in the Diocese of Monterey. The reporters fought an expensive, nearly 18-month legal battle to unseal records in an alleged victim’s lawsuit against Rev. Edward Fitz-Henry, who left the priesthood in 2013 following an undisclosed payout from the diocese. Duan and Rubin’s story uncovered evidence that the diocese knowingly kept a troubled priest in positions of authority with access to children, ignored a mother’s complaints that Fitz-Henry acted bizarrely around her children, and that a former police detective who believed sex acts occurred between the plaintiff and Fitz-Henry and identified other victims unknown to police changed his testimony. The story received national attention; it also resulted in Monterey being added—post-production—to a list of cities where verified accusations against priests had occurred in the film Spotlight.

View full article at SPJ NorCal