CalMatters journalists have earned top honors in this year’s Online Journalism Awards, a national competition that celebrates innovative digital storytelling across major media companies, independent newsrooms and individual reporters working online.
The nonprofit newsroom, which covers California policy and politics with a growing focus on issues affecting the Inland Empire and the rest of Southern California, took first place in two categories: digital video storytelling for a series, and explanatory reporting.
CalMatters also landed as a finalist in two additional categories, with winners set to be announced at an awards ceremony Oct. 1.
The video storytelling honor went to “Agents of Chaos: Tracking Border Patrol Operations Across the U.S.,” a documentary project that marked CalMatters’ first foray into filmmaking. Reporters Sergio Olmos and Wendy Fry teamed up with the nonprofit outlets Evident Media and Bellingcat to produce three films distributed on YouTube and in vertical video format.
The series grew out of an investigation into aggressive enforcement tactics and misleading claims made by federal immigration authorities — tactics that later became a template for large-scale deportation operations carried out across the country. Much of the reporting centered on Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino, who went on to lead high-profile raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities.
Contest judges singled out the team’s use of verified, open-source video footage mapped against real-world locations, saying the approach gave viewers a clearer picture of how the deportation campaign was unfolding on the ground.
Among the project’s key findings: government explanations for the raids didn’t hold up to scrutiny and instead pointed to racial profiling; agents used tactics of dubious legality during the earliest days of the Los Angeles operations; and certain Border Patrol agents appeared repeatedly in violent confrontations with immigrants and protesters in multiple cities.
Business Insider won the large-newsroom equivalent of the award for “View From Above.” Other finalists in the category included Alianza Rebelde Investiga, Cazadores de Fake News, FRONTLINE on PBS, The Texas Tribune and The New York Times, among others.
CalMatters’ second win came in the explanatory reporting category for “License to Kill,” an ongoing investigative series by reporters Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler examining the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ failure to use its authority to investigate drivers involved in fatal crashes.
Judges commended the project “for its dogged accountability reporting and its ability to reveal systemic failures through deeply human stories.”
The investigation found that despite officials describing driving as a privilege, the DMV in practice treats it much like a guaranteed right. Reporters also discovered that county courts across California have failed to report hundreds of vehicular manslaughter convictions to the DMV, allowing dangerous drivers to keep their licenses. The series further revealed that as drunken-driving deaths in California have climbed at twice the national rate, the state’s DUI laws have not evolved to distinguish between drivers who made a one-time mistake and those who pose an ongoing threat.
The reporting also found that state leaders — including the governor, lawmakers, DMV officials and the courts — have largely failed to respond to rising death tolls, even as a diversion program has allowed some people charged with vehicular manslaughter to avoid having the case appear on their driving record. Although state law gives the DMV authority to investigate drivers involved in crashes that kill or seriously injure someone, the agency’s own data shows it rarely exercises that power.
The Washington Post won the large-newsroom award in this category for “Floods Above,” while Wisconsin Watch took the small-newsroom prize for “Supreme Costs.” Other finalists included the San Francisco Chronicle, Verite News and Grist, and ProPublica.
CalMatters was also named a finalist for immigration reporting for “Agents of Chaos” and for its newsletter “My Legislator.”
Original source: CalMatters
