The Los Angeles Times building in downtown LA. | Photo courtesy of Visitor7/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Los Angeles Times picked up a pair of Pulitzer Prizes, the pinnacle of journalism’s achievement, on Monday for its breaking news coverage of the City Hall racism scandal and for Christina House’s photography that documents a homeless woman living along the Hollywood Freeway.
The paper’s staff was also named a Pulitzer finalist for local reporting for its coverage of the impacts of marijuana legalization in California.
“These awards reflect accurate, sophisticated and nuanced reporting and photography on complex issues important to Angelenos: power, representation, race relations, homelessness,” Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida said in remarks reported by the newspaper . “The awards are a testament to the consistently high quality of journalism at the LA Times. I am very proud of the winners and the entire staff.”
It is the fifth year in a row that the Times has won at least one Pulitzer. It’s the seventh time that time has been honored for breaking news coverage, more than any other media organization, according to the newspaper.
The breaking news award of the year went to the paper for its coverage of the scandal that erupted at City Hall after an audio tape of a charged conversation was released race in which three council members discussed upcoming redistricting efforts. The release of the tape prompted the resignation of then-Council President Nury Martínez and led to vocal outcry for the resignations of Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León. Cedillo quietly left the council at the end of his term late last year, but de León has resisted calls to resign and continues to hold his seat.
The scandal has sparked an ongoing effort to overhaul the City Council’s redistricting process.
House received the Pulitzer in the photography category for his work telling the story of Mckenzie Trahan, a pregnant, homeless 22-year-old woman who lives under the freeway. It documented the woman’s struggles living in a tent during her pregnancy, along with the birth of Trahan’s daughter.
