Editor&Publisher: ESPN.com Tillman Coverage Wins Top Military Reporters Prize
By Joe Strupp
Published: August 17, 2007
NEW YORK ESPN.com took the top prize in the Military Reporters and Editors annual journalism awards for its investigation into the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, who died at the hands of friendly fire in 2004 while serving in Afghanistan.
The report, titled "An Un-American Tragedy," was reported and written by ESPN.com senior writer Mike Fish. It will be honored Oct. 12 at the MRE national convention in Arlington, Va. where Fish will receive the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Journalism and a $2,000 check. The multimedia presentation also won the online category.
Judges said Fish "presented a riveting account of the cover-up of Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire."
Posted on the ESPN.com website as a series July 19-21, 2006, the material became the foundation for a television program, called "Tillman's Final Mission," aired on the ESPN cable network, MRE officials said. The TV program won for best television story in the television category....
"Everyday, journalists in Iraq, Afghanistan, the United States and elsewhere report about the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen serving in the U.S. military. Often, these reporters and photographers endure the same hardships and dangers of combat troops. Sometimes, unfortunately, they also make the same ultimate sacrifices of those in uniform," MRE President James W. Crawley, a MediaGeneral military writer, said in a statement. "These journalism awards honor not only the winners but all the men and women who cover war, abroad and at home."...
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