Seymour Hersh Wins Goldsmith Career Award

FORUM l “THIS IS A VERY TOUGH TIME to be a reporter in Washington,” said Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh, who received the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism. Sharply critical of the Bush administration’s “manipulation of information,” Hersh, whose career in investigative journalism spans 30 years, said that many of his colleagues in Washington are “frightened” and “in despair.”

Introduced as “one of the best investigative reporters ever,” Hersh said that the administration is “insulated” and “tough to get to.” But probing to get at the truth is “what we do.”

Despite his pessimism about recent reporting, Hersh encouraged journalists to continue to go after the tough stories. “We have to hold people in public life up to the highest possible standard,” he added.

Before Hersh took to the podium, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team received the $25,000 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for its series which chronicled the Catholic Church’s role in covering up priests accused of sexually abusing young children.

Presented by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting honors journalism that promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government.