Their generosity has made this a war possible its established 1987 through a gift to the New York Public Library in honor of helen and her lifelong love of journalism. Thank you. [applause] the more it is given annually to as books to have brought clarity and public attention to important issues, events or policies and the the five journalists gathered tonight exemplified this. Their books were chosen by librarians over 100 nominations. Event of the topics range from Hurricane Katrina to haiti in corporate pollution to military strategy and returning soldiers struggling with pt sd. And to have that honor and support of excellence journalism. Thank you to you. The digital age may change how we received news from dedicated passionate and strong reporters committed to deep investigative reporting remains a constant. The importance to uncover the truth or to witness the truth, to bring the public to be active member misheard of a an informed citizenry has not change. More important today than ever to shine a spotlight on these efforts. It is my pleasure to introduce the moderator for this evening the chair of the selection committee. [applause] pohjola [applause] for those of you whod dont know Senior Adviser previously with editor of Foreign Affairs with a long list of accolades including the washington correspondent , editor and publisher of the chicago suntimes and publisher of the new york daily news. A fellow at j. F. Kennedy school of government and at columbia university, a former chairman of the International Center for journalist and former chairman of Human Rights Watch the 2010 drust dan fagin in my extreme pleasure to invite him here tonight to. Thank you speesevenspeeseven teen. [applause] good evening. Katchis so glad to see you. I have been with the bernstein award for a number of years and i am struck by the quality of books we are given in an end is very hard to make a decision summer quite different but the level of quality is there. Ive mentioned that because there is a lot of worry in the media world of what will have henhawk the hell that newspapers dont have the resources or cannot afford to do things they once did. What will happen to long form gentilism with insightful a journalism that has thus base to go into multilayer with some depth you should not assume so much but the from Public Utilities you will not get a fully rounded view what is going on in the world. Lets just take one example right now. Soldiers are coming home. Many have to go because of the wounds they had gone with that conflict and the disgrace of the veterans hospitals become public but with say a vigorous press that has the ability to become public. The bernstein award is a form of long for a journalism. With the books that we select deal with this subject of this serious consequence to this society. And were very honored to night with our five finalists that will learn tomorrow who is this years winner but they all deserve it. This is the first year we decided to have the awards ceremony for tomorrow. And they put so much into their products to have a discussion. We have a panel tonight but we may go in other directions also. So who is your . Dan fagin associate professor of journalism at new york university. His book was recently awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize of nonfiction. Before rejoining the nyu faculty with the Environmental Writer for a newspaper david finkel is a writer and editor for the Washington Post and also many foreign subjects the author of the goods soldiers the critically acclaimed account of the u. S. Surged during the iraq war. It won the bernstein award in 2010. The latest book was named a finalist for the 2013 National Book critics circle award and a finalist here again for the bernstein award. Fred kaplan is on his way with some traffic delays but will be here shortly. If you are from new york you know, what those delays are like. A columnist for slate the author of two books in Moscow Bureau chief for the globe the lead member of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for the Nuclear Arms Race his book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in this years edward r. Murrow follow in tea to a freelance journalist and former correspondent an editor from the Associated Press and the only fulltime correspondents with the 7. Zero earthquake struck the won the 2010 gold medal of courageous in journalism and his book entitled the big truck that went by recently won 2013 overseas press club. I will let him explain what that title means. Sheri fink eight correspondent weather news reporting has awarded a Pulitzer PrizeNational Magazine award a of overseas press club of long others. A former relief worker in disaster aid and conflict zones she received heard degrees from stanford university. Her first book is about medical professionals under siege so lets us now proceed to the finalists. [applause] and fred kaplan at the end is the handsome one. [laughter] long for journalism has been a very important part of what they think does their contribution to a Better Society people say it is much tougher today to get that long form journalism done. First of all, it is a very expensive form in the money would flow out before you saw anything as these prices go but in addition to how you get the people when newspapers that wasnt good vehicle. If it is very said it would come back but other avenues have opened up with some turning away from the of long form journalism. But but here to do the job in to it beautifully but some of those new avenues even in front parts and i was on the Pulitzer Board for about 10 years. In the number of books that has exponentially grown. Added is the not a last resort because of what has happened but now want to return to the panelists. What is your own sense of the long for journalism as it is historically a . Gimmick is important to now it is the perception and early on people would not read along on the event on the web. Also we have seen snowfall betting credible platform with that rich story telling and i was a little cynical about that and does a radio reporter that is different puc these platforms now starts up thats come up with school ways to tell stories that almost seamlessly to see that does the rich way and there is a way along former journalism takes over those news stories were hungry for the audience. But how that is funded or paid for a and one of the things as a society is going away to change so radically that seen journalism e7dcn5 something the public may that we go for word to see foundations and other donors looking after journalism as the public good that they need to promote as so many newspapers have gone away in recent years. We can and get to that in more depth but on this point doing Investigative Reporter to have the fact been to pick it up on the media source as how important that could be to have press all in that story. En el of way i definitely agree generically that is so wonderful thing the network that you draw from the network and those of us to cater from newspapers some of us reacted to the sharing aspects with the idea of aggregation, you come to realize this is where the impact comes from. And then to disseminate and then i dont want to overstate my impact but most of them occurred many years ago. As people apply in those situations and their places like china. Lets give a small version of what the book is about. How much . [laughter] a twitter caption. 140 characters. Of a town like any of other that experienced a rapid industrialization as say Illegal Dumping with the unusual amount that appeared in is about the mystery to understand whats really happened and there is a lot of science that is explained in a way to make it clear how fascinating the process is to figure out how do we do understand the relationship between cancer in particular with other chronic diseases but that is what i was shooting for with this book and i do think that is an example of what long form can do. Oh whole idea of writing short or long their arch weeks there are tweet setter much more boring. [laughter] but really it is just good reporting to be interesting. One of the things we can all learn with the new economy with of marketplace of information on the of web there are lots of defer ways to tell stories but successful ones that are in common are very interesting. Are you finding when you write for though glad you have to do it did different way they and print . I am the wrong person to ask because i and academic i teach in they do right for the web but not how i make my living some may be others would be better to comment but of course, you do write differently you take fuller advantage of all the tools interconnected betty and the sharing aspects of the web that go with the medium and if there is one paying we have learned the way not to right is taken from print and slap it on to the web. That is the wrong way. First of all, my hairline notwithstanding that it and go away in in my entire professional life you could say that every six months the grant did i had as a News Reporter for the Associated Press is extremely platform agnostic you have no idea where its will appear in a newspaper or on the web site around the side of the building so you might have to learn how to work in those formats. What is absolutely true and thats talk about snowfall the other day in the atlantic and that peace is in the middle of reading in online with the Short Documentary in those are the kinds of things if we can do it well it is the terrific future. But the only catches paying for it. But i did not pay for that piece when i read that online. Whats get to that because there are different ways that take the place of the of big fat healthy newspaper with a bank account but some that we have been others as well, tell us about that. How much does that change if you dont go through that broadcasting session like the of Pulitzer Center for American Progress to get the wherewithal to do the job. So i had a few different exposures abridge delay when the of book started when i was of freelancer that Family Foundation hand of a grant then i was hired by a what was of a new model the based journalism but funded in a different way. And a few other examples proceeded that. It does what and what do you do . [laughter] to have an initial commitment with 10 million . Something like that. They hired a newsroom but they did not have that platform. Nobody had heard of pearl public of which is good if you are the Investigative Reporter but the way that they did but they still do that to extend so it was publish then there were some opportunities received as of fellowships for journalists are the new american foundation. Six years . And that was my editor. So it was cobbling together. What about the of rest of you appear . I just want to peel back because the idea the problem is a funding problem my guess is true but it is the experience. Here is the problem for me when i am not writing books and i should say they are page after page of lumps of great titles but theyve both feel like lumps of gray type so when im out writing books with the Washington Post it believes very strongly in long form which is why i edits the writers whose job it is to right to long for the front page of the newspaper. Longer than a magazine at this point. And with two pieces of advice for every story there job is not to understand not to judge but to understand and treats every sentence as an opportunity for a reader to stop reading unlike the benefit of the doubt but in many acts of persuasion that has worked for years but lately have conversations with our very talented designer who once you do things like ad recordings come and sound and i love what they do but to me it is a bunch of things that it is then competition like here is an excuse. Now we will interrupt what the writer has done to give you an opportunity to spend five minutes with the video of the guy you are reading about. You can tell i get upset. [laughter] but you were reading a long and you hear the voice it was so seamless i totally agree. I think it is the sign of integration how to do it well it should not be about interrupting. That is easy to say but people are Getting Better at it. Look at some of the work of what mattered does now and those other online storytellings, it is Getting Better but to show up in what can we do to finance the story . But i of could right thing that grabs you that you dont want to go away from. As they are reading your book all the way through it to hear the person say that they were reading right now . No. Yes. Of course, people will start commenting but then i predict for a powerful narrative and that is not a bad thing at all. Before you leap ebooks that is a growing sector. Edits the was shocked at the percentage. It is surprising in changing very fast. The economics are awkward for authors but it is tremendous it is growing very fast. The paper is high technology. But this is the thing that but they will cease to be bookstore radio as it comes along the days change to radically. For someone to collect in the middle of my book. But if i sit down data future date and i am writing this new Technology Im a plan thats. Did journalism is getting to the truth to listen to the person that told me they injected someone that intended to kill them . Sitting in front of that person hearing that for myself it would be neat if other people could do that they you could not get from the best writing. May be what you were getting at is the best writing is aversive like i cannot stop reading i am appalled by. I dont even know why but i have to keep reading. That is not the same thing as the sensory experience from carrying somebodys voice while watching a video but not in a way that stays with you but the sensation. At times. The best documentary is. Has anybody studied the multimedia journalism products . Tuesdays stock when they click on the video . That is mailed personal experience. [laughter] then i get to the of video. You are great at what you not just putting words out there thinking your way through it and by the time the dialogue cokers there has been a decision that it evokes something and to just suddenly be taken out of that, this is why my time in the Washington Post was quite limited. [laughter] i agree but it film makers are also so and that jay imagine the media that has the same art. Remember the song tooling banjos . Actually that is a great example without multimedia experience that is provocative. So too we it is just about good storytelling. And a the question of the impact most people in that line of work will have impact to get some change. You are working for the New York Times in my experience in the past is like with the name of the New York Times can get you into places more easily than other people. Is that the case . Is it the hurdle that is getting higher for the investigative reporting . If it was not partnered it would take off to have a huge impact with so many partnerships that have done that but to you could not count on it as consistently as you have that huge audience but i dont know. If the piece is tucked inside the paper maybe it is similar but to have a huge impact of reaching people people still have that you. I have been told that something in print has more lasting power. Is that the case in your experience . I would not say that. The saying is that there is the permanence but a not really because everything that you do lives forever. I dont necessarily think so but the power of the of web is the sharing and you dont get that necessarily. I think it is too early to generalize because we have an idea of things that go viral and a lot of people pick it up with chatter but i dont know how does that compare to the old days with the series of hearings at the state house . People used to cover that state house. But i dont think that has changed that alleges it is possible to get what you can and on paper. But the series on walter reed that was a game changer. And brilliant reporting of brilliant story with public accountability and well written as well. Had that been on tv would it be the same impact . And i. M. Wondering would it . Tv . I am not so sure. You brought this up. With the partnerships in the old days with another big operation the last thing we want to do is share with anybody. With those that i was involved and would not pass muster a less you got them to go along with you with some of verifiable information all on their own. With cooperation and partnership of where we are now, unless it is disappearing. What is that status . It is probably driven may be because of the opportunities the web provides that there is some healthy competition out there and i dont think that has gone away. D sync we have lost anything . No. I worry about everything. [laughter] but i am worried one day a reporter will wear tshirt that says sponsored by. [laughter] there has ben extraordinary were coming from outside but again when it comes in and if the post will publish it and the editors get involved for the standards we dont just take it and published it, but youd be surprised i was skeptical at first but it works out to really well. No doubt the new journalism economy is everyone scrambling all the time very project driven to think the old system was you go to your editor they say great take as much time as you need now you have the idea and the individual says how do i do this . How will i carr about the time and who will pay for it . That is a radically new way. Maybe not new but leaping back to the future. But definitely has turned to journalists has made them much more entrepreneurial how can i build the support that i need . Where is my politian or my support system . Or my coalition and i just feel incredibly lucky i have a job where they leave me alone, id teach, but part of my job is also to right. But i dont do much of that. But most people, and many people would do that. Of with lights you get questions about the state of foreign correspondents that has changed genetically. In the business years ago there were major bureaus all over the world and hardly any any more and multiple platforms by almost all of you to do the radio, online, print, it does it go in in some direction . It comes down to finding but using my book as an example the reason why i could write the book was my experience and reporting and i was already living there to end a half years with the earthquake struck and another year after so five years in all and i was able to do that because they decided to find the bureau to keep me there to get the stories investigating breaking news to be there in case something happened a and it did. It was extremely fortunate for me and for our readers to see the news and the story unfolds as it was happening then to be there long term to follow in day all have been because somebody was there in the first place. When i moved to the caribbean that hp had somebody on how to a dozen islands in the caribbean buff old bureau of full bureau and the time i left weaver down to three or four people. And that it is a huge problem because i have Great Respect for journalists who go into a place the dough understand anything about the you are bound to make mistakes and to have people that speak the language note of place and it does seem to be going by the wayside and the matter what Technology Offers us settled thing can be replaced because it is not something you can just crowd source and typing it in the ukraine to cobble together some tweets. You really need to pay for something to be there long term. The fact that you were there have you got involved in the project that we talk about now . How much was your own initiative . How much was given to you . You had the extraordinary situation is what that produces with innovation. And the ethical problems to make life or death decisions. How would you get involved in the first place . Pretty soon after Hurricane Katrina the stories hit the news that allegedly something unusual had happened at one hospital and some people disagree with what they perceived as euthanasia hastening the death so i heard about that and because of my background is in the madison i was volunteering i heard about of four hospital in bosnia in to hear this may have happened if i have never heard exactly the story i felt to know more about it and the of basic part is what happened and what do we need to take from that . I convinced them it was online. [laughter] but this is the disturbing things that one away ill or another amount of Institutional Support and in my case i had written about Environmental Issues there were very interested in Breast Cancer patterns it disturb them greatly they want to know what that meant and what the causes may be. In to understand it myself i felt i did not explain it well enough. I heard about this case but then to go down there a few times but once they knew about it i resolved if i ever got the chance it is deeper than the work that this is an amazing way to get at the bigger story it is an extraordinary cast of characters. It was of a combination of the individual or entrepreneurial but weve talked about now that is the new journalism model but also that came out of the old institutional model that we are largely missing. What i find fascinating is historical and future oriented to describe a current problem with the chemicals in now Going Forward because those factories in new jersey are now in china. Have it you get involved . You have two books with the same battalion. With the one difference is one is it is not journalism where something happened to do interviews and i wish i could but that is not the moves that i have pledged a moment arises is that it is interesting and i want to be there choose spend time to watch the story unfolds. In 2007 with my first book it seems to be the last moment of the arak for. Perhaps a tragic moment that is when president bush announced the surge. It into the search went the Infantry Battalion of 800 soldiers most applying for the first time heading overseas 19 or 20 yearold guys i did not want to write about the of war by use the war to write about what happens to the young man who goes into a war at such a moment . So they went and off i went with them to see what happens in spent one year on the ground with them. On such schaede deploy emetine you come and go . Im good when i felt too scared then i was a take a break but mostly i was there. And a story happens with this incredible young man that they all went to war with by the time they lost 14 of their guys than 10 percent were injured do enough to get purple hearts hearts, there were transformed change. But i did not know what what happened. But after the but kimmel i started anxiety attacks, said dreams, it was clear i did have the story and not such a crackerjack journalist i could not to the other half so i imbeded for a couple of years with other soldiers trying to recover from what they saw and what they did a and a chronicle of recovery. And it is different where the things had not have been get into my suspicion is. It is interesting to lee all the ideas people did not start at the beginning. I need a book. It does not work that way but to think what you think is interesting is that is where the Institutional Support. But you talk about Book Publishers in a library but the fact we could find publishers to support us that is a huge part of what we are talking about. Is there a lot of those . With consolidation of the industry i know if more books are published. I ask from a biased background i can tell you there is a handful of publishers that give you the books that you need for Something Like this. I dont want to sound the alarm bell but it was never that big. With five or six major publishers. Simic they are consolidating all the time. Stemming but the publishers consolidate because theyre under financial pressure. But you have to pick your way through. It is growing year in and year out there is a lot of good books out there now some of which would have been multiple series newspaper in the past. Estimate that the prizes or awards is very meaningful with the journalism economy it is wonderful that you have done this is exceedingly important because the Institutional Support. So i was lucky enough in 2012 to be with this work of progress in to i remember the night of the Award Ceremony when i got this large check of 30,000 online. And i was sitting as they asked me to talk about the economics of producing a book with a couple of months or years in she asked what i would have done and it actually said i had no idea. [laughter] but it would have in the book to give me the freedom in the time to make it good. And i thought he would be even thinner than he was now [laughter] the money is important but most important it is voluntary work to turn out the books to have recognition as the spur for the future we are running out of time that anything that you would like to touch on . [laughter] campbell the interesting to see what happens in this. Regardless of what the panel decides. [laughter] these changes are happening and one of the hopeful things if we could find ways to make it work is there are people who are passionate enough to see it through to have a brand new ways to tell things. They could leave anytime where they could leave you on that sentence. So you better hold them all the way through. If we could somehow we are are these mutuals with the old craftsmanship we are going to have powerful and amazing entries. People do i hate it because if this is an investment you could go on the web and find lots of really inaccurate information about what happened at this hospital. When students are researching something and find something on the web. This took six years as a fact checker. Its just how do we avoid history just having a really markedly inaccurate view of events that we can throw these things out there and that if we dont teach we need to educate students about how to sit through and really take the right things away. So im worried about that. Is an inaccurate statement. Very often we write the right thing, the audience isnt ready yet. But that doesnt mean that its gone for good. It doesnt mean that history has stopped. And so i think having books that have the quality of authority that these books have is a very important thing particularly in the flexible age like ours where other recordkeeping mechanisms are not as prevalent. I also want to end on this note. Weve been talking about regarding the difficulties of financing. [inaudible] we appreciate all of the efforts. First i want to say we talked about the reporting of financi financing. Keeping it very and wanting to act on it and think about it and i must tell you that you take subjects as big and as complex as the ones that these authors have dealt with and come out with such beautiful probes is a very difficult thing to do and its one reason why Something Like a dark stain awards are ofe important books bernstein awards are important. [laughter] [inaudible] well, i dont know what has been said. I dont see how the age of twitter if that is the age that we are in obviates longterm journalism. When the great judge was asked what he does he said it depends on what you know. When you write longform journalism is out of there. To the extent it isnt as much as it used to be, many things beyond twitter. The third i think twitter can actually be a facilitator to all forms of journalism. In the cyber warfare or something but im otherwise going to miss. I see twitter used in a certain way. And i see most of you use it in this way as a new kind of character that is otherwise not available. Im so glad that you came because we havent even mentioned what are. Okay but im getting the fine. So i want to thank you all very much. Its been a very interesting evening and good luck tomorrow. Thank you. [applause] now we present the winner of the Helen Bernstein book award for excellence in journalism. This years nominees include sherry, bread n. And jonathan at. I am the president of the New York Public Library and it is my pleasure to welcome you to our humble trustee room. I draw your attention to the mantelpiece sitting at the arc for the free use of all the people. And there are of course 92 other buildings for the same purpose that mr. Jefferson eliminated. We are here for the 27th year to present for excellence in journalism honoring journalists unique old, their powerful