2007 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
2007 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
The staff of The Oregonian was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2007, “for its skillful and tenacious coverage of a family missing in the Oregon mountains, telling the tragic story in both print and online.”
The newspaper’s entry of nine stories on the search for the missing Kim family included the joyful discovery of the mother and two children, the tragic discovery of the dead father who had set out to find help, as well as investigating details of the search which turned out to be “botched”.
In addition to the nine stories, the newspaper for the first time entered a multimedia element as part of an entry for the Pulitzer. The three-minute slide show included a descriptive narration of the search by a reporter who covered the story from the scene, and it also included an imaginative mapping system that showed readers the route taken by the family.
There were nine staff members listed on the entry, although Editor Sandy Rowe credited the entire newsroom for its participation in the effort. Those named were David Anderson, Dave Austin, Rob Finch (Online), Mark Larabee, Ed Madrid (Online), Peter Sleeth, Michelle Roberts, Elizabeth Suh, and Steve Suo.
