Guardian and Washington Post newspapers awarded Pulitzer Prize over Edward Snowden's NSA leaks
Reporting the leaked intelligence reports of Edward Snowden bagged the newspapers one of the world's highest honours.
By Dave Lancaster |15:32 15 April 2014
The 2014 Pulitzer Prize committee has awarded the Guardian and the Washington Post newspapers with its highest honour for their reporting of former NSA contractor's intelligence leaks.
In the UK, the Guardian's NSA leak reporting team was headed up by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and film-maker Laura Poitras. Poitras was also active across the Atlantic at the Washington Post alongside Barton Gellman.
On Thursday 6 June 2013, The Guardian ran their first piece headlined "NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily" with a subheading of "Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama"
The Pulitzer committee highlighted the Guardian's adept "revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, helping through aggressive reporting to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy".
Snowden himself released a statement saying: "I am grateful to the committee for their recognition of the efforts of those involved in the last year's reporting, and join others around the world in congratulating Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Ewen MacAskill and all of the others at the Guardian and Washington Post on winning the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
"Today's decision is a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government. We owe it to the efforts of the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation, including the forced destruction of journalistic materials, the inappropriate use of terrorism laws, and so many other means of pressure to get them to stop what the world now recognises was work of vital public importance.
"This decision reminds us that what no individual conscience can change, a free press can. My efforts would have been meaningless without the dedication, passion, and skill of these newspapers, and they have my gratitude and respect for their extraordinary service to our society. Their work has given us a better future and a more accountable democracy."
The Pulitzers, founded by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, have been handed out in various categories since 1917 to reward spirited journalism. The prize was expanded to include other forms of writing including literature. Special citations are occaisionally given as well including Bob Dylan's 2008 award for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."