Pulitzer Prize for Making Up Stories?

The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded today and as usual the judges must have had a "toddy" or two before making their selections. The Times-Picayune wins 2 awards for its coverage post Hurricane Katrina. Yes this is the same Times-Picayune that printed stories about the 40 bodies found in the freezer at the Convention Center and other fables from Katrina. Here's a little excerpt from that piece of fiction...

"That’s a kid," he said. "There’s another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut."
He moved on, walking quickly through the darkness, pulling his camouflage shirt to his face to screen out the overwhelming odor.
"There’s an old woman," he said, pointing to a wheelchair covered by a sheet. "I escorted her in myself. And that old man got bludgeoned to death," he said of the body lying on the floor next to the wheelchair.
Brooks and several other Guardsmen said they had seen between 30 and 40 more bodies in the Convention Center’s freezer. "It’s not on, but at least you can shut the door," said fellow Guardsman Phillip Thompson."

Sweetness and Light has an excellent post about the T-P's exaggerations in the post Katrina hysteria.

Also winning Pulitzer's today were Dana Priest who reported on the "secret prisons" that the US had overseas. James Risen won a Pulitzer for his article on the NSA and the "domestic wiretapping". I guess the lesson we should take from this is - in order to win prizes and get the big bucks and national recognition, you have to lie, exaggerate or put the country at risk by leaking classified information. Meanwhile those of us that research the info and post it on our blogs with sources and fact checking get nothing but the satisfaction of proving what morons the "bigs" are. And we don't even get paid for doing it....

One of the most worthy Pulitzer's went to Jim Sheeler of the Rocky Mountain News for his moving story, "Final Salute". His photographer also won a Pulitzer for the photos that went along with the article. I actually blogged about "Final Salute" back in Nov. 2005 when the story was first published. It was a tear jerker and such a tribute to the soldiers.

So kudos to Sheeler and company. I hope the Pulitzer is enough to keep Risen and company warm when they get thrown in the pokey for exposing classified info.