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It’s the Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Case Cleared: How Rape Goes Unpunished in America won in the Online Investigative Journalism category. Case Cleared is a joint investigation from Newsy, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and ProPublica.
For the project – reported by Newsy’s Mark Greenblatt and Mark Fahey, ProPublica’s Bernice Yeung, and Reveal’s Emily Harris – reporters requested data from the 100 largest police jurisdictions and analyzed more than 70,000 rape cases. Almost half of those who responded cleared more rape cases by “exceptional means” than by making an arrest.
“Case Cleared is helping bring accountability and transparency to how crimes are closed,” said Ellen Weiss, Vice President and Bureau Chief of the Scripps Washington Bureau. “It’s collaborative journalism like this that can drive important change and empower citizens to hold people in positions of power accountable for acting in the public interest.”
Case Cleared aired on two episodes of the Reveal podcast and public radio show, and on Newsy’s cable channel and over-the-top streaming platforms in November 2018. Newsy aired the investigation via an hour-long special report on Dec. 15 and 16 on its cable channel. The investigation also can be viewed at newsy.com/casecleared.
The Sigma Delta Chi Awards date to 1932, when the Society of Professional Journalists first honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The winners will be honored at the National Press Club in June in Washington, DC.