New media recognized in Pulitzer competition

When the Pulitzer board handed out the most important prizes in journalism, The New York Times and The
Washington Post topped the list of winners- and finalists - as usual.

But they were joined for the first time by a trio of new media publications that scored unprecedented recognition in a competition long dominated by newspapers.

On Monday, judges awarded the nonprofit ProPublica, in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for a 13,000-word story on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.

"It is a validation," said Stephen Engelberg, managing editor for the more than two-year-old ProPublica that's based in Manhattan and has only 32 employees. "To be recognized by your peers is an honor and it sort of says to the rest of the group: "Yes, they're here. They're real. They are doing very serious journalism."'

Full report here AP