Murrow School Grad Receives Top Broadcast Investigative Award
To view Jeff Burnside’s bio at WTVJ |
PULLMAN, Wash. – Jeff Burnside, a reporter for WTVJ, the NBC affiliate in Miami, and a 1989 graduate of the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University, has been awarded the top 20 market award for investigative broadcast journalism from Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE).
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IRE is a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. Burnside’s prize was awarded for "Citizenship for Sale," an investigation of a scam targeting illegal immigrants hoping to gain U.S. citizenship. Others awarded a prize for the piece were investigative producer Scott Zamost, photographers Pedro Cancio and Felix Castro, editor Ed Garcia and assignment desk editor Maria Carpio.
“This riveting investigation revealed an illegal scheme that exploited the hopes and fears of unsuspecting immigrants,” said the judges in issuing their comments. “The operation, run by a South Florida man, purported to sell citizenship in the Pembina Little Shell Band Indian Tribe of North Dakota. Victims were told they would have the right to work legally in the United States if they paid $1,500. It was a sham, of course. The WTVJ investigation shut down the bogus operation and led to federal and state investigations.”
“Our undercover cameras documented the sales pitch, found victims who were thrown in jail by Customs for using the bogus credentials, confronted the man behind the scam and traveled to North Dakota to find the chief of this obscure tribe,” said Burnside. “In short, it was quite an unusual, compelling story.”
“This year’s winners—and all the entries—demonstrate that investigative reporting is healthy and vibrant despite newsroom cutbacks and a transforming industry,” said IRE executive director Brant Houston. “Furthermore, the range and sophistication of the work shows that investigative journalism continues to be practiced at a higher level every year.”
“It is a marvelous distinction for the school to have one of our graduates receive what is essentially the top honor for broadcast investigative journalism,” said Erica Austin, director of the Murrow School. “We often speak of the relevance of the Murrow tradition, and this, it seems to me, is a case in point.”
IRE contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working journalists. The IRE awards program is unique among journalism contests in the extent of its efforts to avoid conflicts of interest. Work that includes any significant role by a member of the IRE board of directors or an IRE contest judge may not be entered in the contest.
The IRE awards will be presented at a luncheon on Saturday, June 9, at the 2007 IRE Conference in Phoenix.
"Citizenship for Sale" also won the investigative reporting prize from the SPJ Green Eyeshade Awards and will receive an investigative reporting award this weekend from the Florida AP Broadcasters Association.