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Journalism Awards

  • First Place, Newsletters, Society of Professional Journalists, D.C. Chapter, 2004
    This award was based on coverage of campaign donations to the re-election campaign of George W. Bush as well as to the nine Democrats running to oppose him. Mr. Ross reviewed approximately 70,000 records of individual donations to the ten candidates, looking for executives of top companies in the telecommunications, broadcast, cable, satellite and Internet industries. Data analysis was performed to see which candidates were attracting support from various industry executives, and that support was compared to the candidates' positions and records on issues of interest to those industries. The report was among the first to note that former Vermont Governor Howard Dean was raising significant funds from small donors online, and was also among the first to predict -- correctly -- that Dean would opt out of the federally funded campaign finance system.
  • First Place, Single News Story, Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation, 2004
    This award was given for the same series honored above.
  • First Place, Newsletters, Society of Professional Journalists, D.C. Chapter, 2002
    Mr. Ross won the top newsletter award from the largest chapter of SPJ for his spot-news coverage of a chaotic evacuation of Capitol Hill on the morning of September 11. In the story Mr. Ross interviewed members of Congress and staff, U.S. Capitol police officers and D.C. police officers in painting a portrait of fear and confusion.
  • First Place, Investigative Reporting, Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation, 2002
    The highest award in newsletter journalism, competing against thousands of entries from around the globe, went to a series by Mr. Ross on the inflated reports of industry research firms predicting massive growth in Internet-related industries before the dot-com bubble burst. The series revealed that many of these companies had a financial incentive to produce rosy reports, as they were consultants and stock holders in companies hoping to make a name for themselves in the very sectors they were promoting. This series pre-dated revelations of conflicts-of-interest at Andersen consulting as well as brokerage firms such as Merrill Lynch, and was the second time Mr. Ross has won this award.
  • Maxwell Media Award, Maxwell Media Foundation, 2001
    Awarded to a single reporter who demonstrates the greatest mastery of the cable industry. Mr. Ross was noted that year in particular for his coverage of the quest by independent Internet service providers for access to the broadband plants of cable companies, an issue widely debated on Capitol Hill and the FCC. His coverage appeared on CNET News.com, in the New York Times, and was distributed by the Associated Press.
  • Third Place, Analytical Reporting, Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation, 2001
    This award was for a series focusing on the campaign donations received by key members of the House and Senate Commerce committees during the 106th Congress. The series focused on the relationship between donations from various sectors of the telecom, media and Internet industries and their votes on key issues.
  • Honorable Mention, Society of Professional Journalists, D.C. Chapter, 1999
    This award reflected ongoing reporting that led to a new law. Mr. Ross had previously discovered that executives of the Public Broadcasting Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were accepting illegal bonuses to evade a salary cap imposed on them. Congress, learning of this through Mr. Ross's reporting, decided that PBS and CPB had a difficult time competing with the private sector for top talent due to the salary cap, and passed a law removing it.
  • First Place, Investigative Reporting, Newsletter Publishers Foundation, 1998
    This award was for the initial revelation of the 5- and 6-figure bonuses pocketed by PBS and CPB executives, and the launch of a congressional investigation. It is the same award Mr. Ross won again in 2002, a rare repeat performance for the industry's most competitive award.
  • Honorable Mention, Investigative Reporting, Newsletter Publishers Foundation, 1998
    In an investigation of mismanagement by CPB of its only programming project, the Ready-to-Learn children's project, Mr. Ross discoverd that not only were funds being spent with no accountability, but that CPB had been given an accidental double appropriation by Congress and refused to give the money back. After the story was broken by Mr. Ross, CPB gave back the extra funds and agreed to let PBS take over the program. This was, and remains, the only time one reporter has won twice in the Newsletter Publishers Foundation investigative reporting category in the same year.

February 02, 2009

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my home page. I have spent more than 20 years as a public servant, journalist, think tank scholar and activist examining the intersection of public policy and the free market, with nearly fifteen years of specialization on the remarkable dynamics of the digital economy. This involves a lot of public speaking, as the column to the right (only reflecting the last three years) attests.

I am endeavoring to keep this site very basic, as most of my online activity occurs on the Copyright Alliance site and its blog. You can find posts by me not only on the Copyright Alliance blog but also on the blogs of The Progress & Freedom Foundation and its affiliated IPCentral site. Some of my scholarly works are archived on The Progress & Freedom Foundation web site.

You can learn more about me on the link at left, including my nine journalism awards, frequent media appearances, interviews by the press, and writings. For the past two years I have served as the co-founder and executive director of The Copyright Alliance, a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth.

I am always happy to engage with individuals interested in the digital revolution and its impact -- good and bad -- on consumers and society. Email me at the link to the left.

Thank you again for visiting.

February 02, 2009 at 10:10 AM | | TrackBack (0)

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