Republican-American Receives National Sunshine Award

Society of Professional Journalists press release

The Waterbury Republican-American has received the Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. The SPJ board of directors and Freedom of Information Committee honor people or organizations each year for their notable contributions to open government.

SPJ also named Bloomberg News and the Medill Innocence Project recipients of the award.

The recipients will be recognized at the SPJ President’s Installation Banquet at Excellence in Journalism 2012 on Sept. 22.

In her nomination letter, Anne Karolyi, the Litchfield County Editor for the Republican-American, outlined the publication’s dedication to freedom of information and informing its audience to the best of its ability.

Her lead example was of reporter Jim Moore, who argued that an arbitration hearing in Torrington, Conn., fell under the public’s right to know, as the outcome of contract negotiations for the district’s teachers was of taxpayer interest. Moore was turned away, but he filed an FOI complaint. In a similar situation, he filed another. The FOI Commission sided with the Republican-American, and the Superior Court decided “that the evidentiary portion of arbitration hearings involving municipal contracts should be open to the public,” Karolyi wrote.

She followed that example with several other instances when the publication engaged in freedom of information battles, crediting the paper’s executive editor Jonathan Kellogg and publisher William Pape with prioritizing such practices.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information on SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.