By Craig Thompson
Six alumni from the Class of 2008 have captured the top prize for Student Work (All Media) in the 2009 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards. Their project, along with those of the other winners, was chosen from among more than 450 entries.
Clark Merrefield, Rosaleen Ortiz, Dan Macht, Joshua Cinelli, Matt Townsend, and Steven Bronner won for their story Wrongful Conviction, Unequal Compensation. The investigative report revealed how those wrongfully convicted of a crime in New York State and entitled to compensation for the time lost while incarcerated have not been receiving their due. The team used open records requests and large document searches to build an array of databases to back up their reporting.
“The team was extremely integral to the story,” said Merrefield, who now works as a reporter at The Daily Beast. “This project was a major undertaking, with reams of documents to pour through and numerous interviews to conduct. The article really would have lacked a lot of the nuance and detail it has without the great team effort.”
The group worked under the banner of the CUNY J-School’s NYCity News Service. The story also served as Merrefield’s capstone project – a significant piece of work each student is required to complete to graduate. Adjunct professor Andrew Lehren, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, oversaw the project throughout.
“Having Andy to guide this project made it come together as well as it did,” Merrefield said. “He was always available to answer questions, help edit, and to talk out new reporting avenues. I couldn’t have asked for a better adviser and teacher.”
Among the other team members, Ortiz works as a web assistant at the CUNY J-School and a web producer for IEEE Spectrum, Macht is overnight news editor at NBCNewYork, Cinelli serves as an adviser on media issues with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC, Townsend is employed at Bloomberg News, and Bronner is an editor at amNewYork.