NEW YORK (AP) — A Los Angeles Times reporter on Tuesday won a
Loeb award, business journalism’s top honor, for a series of stories
exposing the dubious business practices of "Buy Here Pay Here" used car
lots.
Ken Bensinger’s three-part "Wheels of Fortune" series showed
how the dealers lure the least creditworthy buyers and charge steep
interest rates on loans. The dealers still profit even if a buyer fails
to keep up on loan payments because the dealers can repossess and resell
the vehicle.
The series won in the category for large newspaper.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won two Loebs, one for medium-sized
newspapers and another for beat reporting.
The Morning Call of
Allentown, Penn., took the prize for small newspapers for a story on how
Amazon.com Inc. treats its local warehouse workers. Fortune won in the
magazine category for a story on the "palace coup" that led drugmaker
Pfizer Inc. to replace its CEO.
The Loeb Awards have been
presented for 39 years by Anderson School of Management at the
University of California, Los Angeles. They were established in 1957 by
Gerald Loeb, a financier and founding partner of E.F. Hutton, to
encourage quality reporting in business, finance and the economy.
This
year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to Jerry Seib, deputy managing
editor and Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal. The
Lawrence Minard Editor Award went to Winnie O’Kelley, deputy business
editor of The New York Times.
Reuters reporters Brian Grow, Kelly
Carr, Laurence Fletcher, Nanette Byrnes, Matthew Bigg, Joshua Schneyer,
Cynthia Johnston and Sara Ledwith won the award for in the category news
services for "Shell Games," a series exploring the extent and impact of
corporate secrecy in the U.S.
Associated Press reporter Jeff Donn
was a finalist in the category for the story "Aging Nukes" on the state
of the country’s nuclear reactors. The AP’s Kevin Freking, Michael
Hill, Danny Robbins, Tammy Webber, Peter Jackson and Jeffrey Collins
were also finalists for "Broken Budgets," a joint initiative by the AP
and Associated Press Media Editors on the fiscal crisis facing U.S.
states and cities.
This year’s awards were presented at a dinner in Manhattan. The full list of winners by category:
— Large Newspapers: Ken Bensinger of Los Angeles Times for "Wheels of Fortune."
—
Medium & Small Newspapers: Raquel Rutledge, Rick Barrett, John
Diedrich, Ben Poston and Mike de Sisti of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for
"Shattered Trust." Spencer Soper and Scott Kraus of The Morning Call
for "Inside Amazon’s Warehouse."
— Magazines: Peter Elkind, Jennifer Reingold and Doris Burke of Fortune for "Inside Pfizer’s Palace
Coup."
— Commentary: Zanny Minton Beddoes, Edward Carr, John Peet, Patrick Foulis and John O’Sullivan of The
Economist for "Euro Zone,"
— Breaking News: Brent Snavely, Greg Gardner and Chrissie Thompson of Detroit Free Press for "GM-UAW
Contract Negotiations"
— Beat Reporting: John Fauber of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for "’Side Effects’ Beat
Reporting."
—
News Services: Brian Grow, Kelly Carr, Laurence Fletcher, Nanette
Byrnes, Matthew Bigg, Joshua Schneyer, Cynthia Johnston and Sara Ledwith
of Reuters for "Shell Games."
— Explanatory: Scott Pelley, Robert
G. Anderson, Daniel Ruetenik, Robert J. Shattuck and Nicole Young of
CBS News 60 Minutes for "The Next Housing Shock."
— Online
Enterprise: Mark Maremont, Tom McGinty, Jon Keegan, Palani Kumanan,
Sarah Slobin and Neil King Jr. of The Wall Street Journal for "Jet
Tracker."
— Blogging: Felix Salmon of Reuters for "Felix Salmon’s Blog."
— Personal Finance: Penelope Wang, Kim Clark and Lisa Gibbs of Money for "’Protecting Your Parents’
Series"
— Broadcast Enterprise: Laura Sydell and Alex Blumberg of NPR and This American Life for "When
Patents Attack."
— Business Books Winner: Walter Isaacson for "Steve Jobs" published by Simon &
Schuster.
— Business Books Honorable Mention: Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo for "Poor Economics"
published by PublicAffairs.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.