Sun-Herald and Times-Picayune Win Pulitzer Prizes

Nice. From the Sun-Herald’s Web site:

Executive Editor Stan Tiner dedicated the public service prize to the people of South Mississippi “who will not be defeated.”

This is very deserved. The JFP sends congrats—heck, we might even pop a cork on their behalf!

I totally agree on this one. The Sun Herald deserves all the kudos they get for their coverage of Katrina. I was very impressed with how the were able to keep people informed in the midst of total kaos on the coast. Congrats to the Sun Herald. 

Word is that there is a media buzz in the state, with Sun-Herald staffers pissed off about supposedly sarcastic remarks that Ledger editor Ronnie Agnew—perhaps irked that his paper couldn’t bring home the two Pulitzers they were up for—made in his newsroom Monday when hearing that the Sun-Herald won a Pulitzer and they didn’t. He made the remarks in front of an AP reporter:

The paper hasn’t been shy about flexing its editorial muscle. It has run about a dozen front-page editorials since Katrina, including one headlined “The Invisible Coast” that argued the media’s focus on New Orleans has turned Mississippi into a “black hole of media obscurity.”

“Give the Sun Herald credit. That’s great. That’s great for those guys,” said Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson.

And anyone who read the Ledger’s story about Pulitzers in the state could see that they spent a lot more time on their own nominees who didn’t win that they did the paper in the Katrina zone that won under immense pressure. And as one insider there said, they could have won a Pulitzer, too, had they actually put enough people on the ground there who knew how to report after the storm—and helped call for more attention from the world when it was needed most.

They did do some great photographs as I recall, so let’s give credit where it’s due.

Link to AP story here]here]http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/14362857.htm]here[/url][/url]

In response to Mr. Agnew’s comment, I think it’s “great” for all us for the Sun-Herald to get this honor. If The Clarion-Ledger wasn’t do damn petty and defensive, they might have more loyalty among readers.

Just sayin’.

The Sun-Herald is the best daily newspaper in the state.  The Clarion-Ledger is probably the worst.  I guess Agnew has every reason to resent that, but it’s nobody’s fault but his own.

Cheers,

TH

That said, there are some things about the C-L that I do like.  Last Sunday’s “Perspective” section, with the kick-butt profile of Nsombi Lambright and the op-eds on Wal-Mart and food taxes, were good stuff.

Cheers,

TH

Last Sunday’s section were good stuff?  Lord.  I need a copyeditor.

Cheers,

TH

The Sun-Herald in Biloxi and the Times-Picayune in New Orleans were the ONLY papers I picked up during this horrific time in American history. They appeared to be the only papers with the “stones” to cover Katrina with such depth of information as they did. I was albe to locate my family members in New Orleans quickly because of these papers...respect is due.

Do you have a link to the Ledger’s coverage of their own writers who were nominated but didn’t win? I’d like to read that.

Here.

Here’s the story they ran about the Sun-Herald and Times-Picayune.

That’s a rather different AP story than the one that ran in the Sun-Herald—with Mr. Agnew’s quotes.

Anyway. No surprises here.