Limerick man and New York Times journalist, Malachy Browne, pictured, has this week been honoured with the Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to a series of stories that exposed the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Limerick man and New York Times journalist Malachy Browne wins the Pulitzer Prize
By I Love Limerick Correspondent Mary Doyle
Limerick man and New York Times journalist, Malachy Browne, has been awarded the very prestigious Pulitzer Prize in honour of his contribution to a series of stories that exposed the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime. Named after the publisher Joseph Pulitzer, this prize is well known as the highest honour that US-based journalists and organisations can receive.
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Malachy was part of a team of journalists who were acknowledged in the International Reporting Category of the awards, for a series of “enthralling stories, reported at great risk, exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime”, according to the organisers of the award ceremony. The reports included Malachy’s documentation of a Russian bombing campaign in Syria, which initially led to the widespread condemnation of the Putin regime.
This day last year, May 5th, Russian pilots bombed four hospitals in 12 hours. Our team were tenacious in their reporting: collecting layers of evidence, interviewing sources, checking & peer reviewing technical data & calculations, and telling the story. https://t.co/h1eZ3qSxB9
— Malachy Browne (@malachybrowne) May 5, 2020
No stranger to awards, this achievement follows an Emmy in 2018, awarded to Malachy and his New York Times team for an investigative documentary film based on the Las Vegas massacre of 2017. Malachy himself was also honoured with the Limerick Person of the Month award in April 2019, and he is now the first Limerick man to be honoured with a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, though another Limerick man, Frank McCourt, won the prize for his book Angela’s Ashes back in 1997.
This year’s Pulitzer awards were originally due to take place in April, but were postponed due to the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Prize board administrator Dana Canedy announced the winners from her living room via a Youtube Livestream this Monday, quite a different style from the usual ceremony which takes place annually at New York’s Columbia University.
The decisions were made by a jury of five men and women, with the New York Times picking up three awards, the most of any organisation this year. Other winners include the Washington Post for its focus on climate change and their “groundbreaking series that showed with scientific clarity the dire effects of extreme temperatures on the planet”, as well as the Baltimore Sun which was awarded for its “impactful reporting on a lucrative, undisclosed financial relationship between the city’s mayor and the public hospital system”. You can find the full list of winners here.
Among those congratulating Malachy on this impressive achievement was Cllr Michael Sheehan, who said, “A huge well done from me and the people of Limerick and especially Broadford in West Limerick on being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. This Prize is one of the highest accolades a journalist can receive. In an era of the ‘always on’ news cycle and opinion based as news, it is vitally important that the facts of a story are known and reported on. Malachy has strived to do this at all times.”
“He has worked to uncovered some of the most important stories of our times, and highlight the devastating impacts these actions have on ordinary people. We currently live in a world where the facts aren’t always the central tenet for a story, but Malachy and his team have proved otherwise. They are crucial. That is why journalists such as Malachy are so important to our society. They play an important role in bringing those in a position of power to account,” he added.
Congratulations to Malachy Browne @ul graduate, part of a team of journalists awarded a Pulitzer in the international reporting category for a series of stories “exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime”, according to the Pulitzer committee. https://t.co/Wul4ruVZTJ
— Dr Des Fitzgerald (@ULPresident) May 5, 2020
Malachy, who is the nephew of well-known journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne, has been a Senior Story Producer for the New York Times since 2016. Originally from Broadford, Co. Limerick, Malachy studied engineering in UCD after completing his Leaving Cert at St Munchin’s College in Limerick City. He went on to complete a Masters in International Relations at the University of Limerick, before building an impressive career in journalism, beginning as an apprentice at Village Magazine, current affairs and cultural magazine, to working at Storyful, Politico and First Look Media.
In receiving the Pulitzer Prize, Malachy took to Twitter, saying, “Thanks for the incredible goodwill – we celebrate the recognition with you. Our contribution to this Pulitzer revealed Russia’s heinous bombings of hospitals, markets, camps with evidence that may hold them to account. And it gave voice to the victims.”
Malachy’s fellow New York Times journalist Whitney Hurst, who also played a major part in the series of reports about Putin’s regime, wrote on Twitter, “Incredibly honored to be a part of the @nytimes Visual Investigations team recognized for our work on Syria. I truly work with the best team in the business @malachybrowne @trbrtc @evanchill @dim109 @DrewJordan_NYT @markscheffler & so many more!”
For more information on Malachy Browne, click here.
For more stories on the Pulitzer Prize, click here.
