© THE SEATTLE TIMES COMPANY

WHEN YOU SEE A WRONG, WRITE IT

In 1997, The Seattle Times won two Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, the newspaper industry's most coveted award. It is very unusual for a regional newspaper to win even one Pulitzer, and here were two in the same year.

The first was awarded to Byron Acohido in the beat-reporting category for his coverage of the aerospace industry, notably an exhaustive investigation of rudder control problems on the Boeing 737. As the Pulitzer award stated, Acohido's work "contributed to new FAA requirements for major improvements."

The second prize, in the investigative-reporting category, was awarded to Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson and Alex Tizon for their investigation of widespread corruption and inequities in the federally sponsored housing program for Native Americans. Their series exposed opportunism, nepotism and sloppy management in Native American housing programs and prompted investigations and action by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and by Congress.

When the awards were announced, Executive Editor Mike Fancher was quoted as saying, "No newspaper ownership and staff deserves this recognition more than The Seattle Times. Only a handful of newspapers in the country would try to undertake stories as sweeping as our 737 and HUD series."

Why we're here. | These two stories are excellent examples of why most people go to work for a newspaper. Both of them provoked corrective response, which served the public. And as Fancher said, "That's what newspaper journalism is all about."

The Seattle Times had won five previous Pulitzers, the most recent in 1990 for national coverage of the 1989 Alaska oil spill and its aftermath. Nalder was on that reporting team, too, contributing a series on oil-tanker safety.

That Pulitzer Prize was specifically awarded in the names of reporters Ross Anderson, Bill Dietrich, Mary Ann Gwinn and Eric Nalder, but dozens of Times staffers were involved. The coverage began immediately after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound.

The accident occurred 1,500 miles from Seattle, but we regarded it as a local story because the Puget Sound area has deep historical, cultural and economic ties to Alaska. Our intent during the coverage was that our reporting would help prevent such disasters in the future.

Making a difference. | In 1996, our investigative stories after the death of three firefighters in the infamous Pang fire led to safety changes in Seattle Fire Department procedures.

In 1997, we published a series called "Fear in the Fields," reported by Duff Wilson, about how toxic chemicals were being recycled as fertilizer. The series, a Pulitzer finalist, led to changes in state laws regulating the content of fertilizers and changed the way consumers were informed about fertilizer contents.

In 1998, we published a special section on a Cambodian refugee camp along the Thai border, reported by Paula Bock. The result was an outpouring of support for the clinic and the doctor behind it, generating over $50,000 in donations.

Also in 1998, we were a Pulitzer finalist for our coverage of the I-200 initiative, which asked Washington state voters to abolish affirmative-action programs for minorities and women. In a comprehensive series of articles, reporter Tom Brune explained the complicated landscape of this controversial initiative so well that he won praise from opponents and proponents alike.

In 1999, our story detailing the ordeal of Linda David, a semi-paralyzed woman held prisoner and abused for 10 years by her husband who was paid by the state to be her caretaker, prompted the state's Department of Social and Health Services to boost supervision of home care.

These are just a few examples of how seriously we take our second core value, "Serve the community through quality journalism."

A powder keg. | One year after earning the Valdez oil spill Pulitzer, we were named a Pulitzer finalist for our series on Brock Adams. This complicated story that unmasked a powerful U.S. senator as a sexual predator was a delicate situation. How we handled it says a lot about our leadership.

Executive Editor Mike Fancher walked into the publisher's office while the story was being developed and said, "Frank, I have to tell you a few things. One, there will be no story unless there IS a story. Two, if we run it, this will be the end of Brock Adams' career. Three, the paper will be a part of the story. And finally, his lawyers might sue us."

Frank simply nodded and said, "Thanks for letting me know."

Adams' backers were, as expected, aggressive. They called and said, "We know you have no one on record to substantiate these charges, so if you run the story, we will own your paper."

In response, we relied on creative journalism. We obtained an affidavit from several of Adams' victims who wanted to remain nameless but agreed that they would step forward if The Seattle Times was sued. We gave this information to the senator's backers.

We ran the story on Sunday. On Monday, we reported that Adams had announced he would not seek re-election.

It's not always easy. | Doing the right thing can be difficult. When Nordstrom pulled its advertising in 1994 in response to our coverage of their labor practices, we felt the crunch financially. And when we ran the Pulitzer Prize-winning series about Boeing 737 safety issues, we risked alienating 80,000 newspaper readers who worked at Boeing.

The repercussions of quality journalism can be emotionally draining as well. We're part of the community along with the Nordstrom family and Boeing executives. We have many community interactions with people who are the subject of our news stories. It has caused some uncomfortable moments.

Fulfilling our journalistic responsibilities is never easy, and can sometimes be lonely.

Our responsibility to the community. | President Mason Sizemore gave an excellent summation of the role we play in our community.

"Here at The Seattle Times," he said, "we believe we have a responsibility to give readers information they can use to lead better lives, to hold public officials accountable, and to protect people who can't protect themselves."

And we believe that makes a difference.