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| The Story Behind the Stories |
As part of its research for the anniversary celebration, The Brechner Center completed a project titled "The Story Behind the Stories." The project recognizes more than 60 journalists and 11 Florida newspapers for their use of freedom of information laws in hard-hitting investigative journalism. Learn more about the investigative work of Florida's finest journalists on the Story Behind the Stories website. All photos (c) Ray Carson/Brechner Center |
Florida Times-Union editorial writer Joe Adams is recognized for his work in "We're No. 1 (Gasp)" where he examined 20 years of crime reports to reveal that Duval County led the state in murder rates for 12 of the past 17 years. |
Steve Patterson (left) and John Dunbar (center) were recognized for their work in a Florida Times-Union article that revealed at least 4 out of 10 recently built Jacksonville homes had not been fully inspected. |
Paige St. John. Paige used public records to show how Florida associations and companies pool money to bypass spending limits. |
Pat Moore of The Palm Beach Post used public records to show how politicians in three counties regularly broke the law by settling lawsuits in secret. |
Sydney Freedberg of the St. Petersburg Times used documents that indicated that since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, thousands of pounds of explosives, hundreds of mines, mortars, grenades and firearms and dozens of rockets and artillery rounds have been lost or stolen from U.S. stockpiles and possibly have been misused. |
The Miami Herlad reporters Patrick Danner (left) and Dan Christensen (center) were recognized for their story, "300 more civil cases uncovered in Broward court." |
Margo Harakas (left) worked to unmask hundreds of problematic Florida police officers, some of whom got jobs amid unresolved rape accusations and recent drug use. Harakas work was one of eight South Florida Sun-Sentinel stories recognized by the Top 30 project. |
Lakeland Ledger executive editor Skip Perez accepts the award on behalf of Lynn N. Duke whose investigation regarding desegregation issues in the Polk County school system led to a legal battle over public records. |
In a 2000 article published in Florida Trend Magazine, Cynthia Barnett reviewed Florida Department of Transportation files and showed millions of dollars in waste and corruption. |
Orlando Sentinel reporter George Diaz was recognized for his work on "NASCAR idles while drivers die," which investigated the deaths of NASCAR drivers and led to increased safety requirements for drivers. |
The family of the late Mike Hoyem, a Fort Myers News-Press reporter, accepted the Top 30 recognition on his behalf. In his last story before passing away, Hoyem used records to identify forged deeds worth over 1 million dollars. The stories helped spark investigations and five federal indictments in other scams. |
Sydney Freedberg (left) and Connie Humburg (center) investigated public records and revealed that explosives, mines, mortars, grenades, firearms and rounds had been lost or stolen from U.S. stockpiles since the 1991 Persian Gulf War and that the weapons may have been misused. |
