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CalMatters journalists were honored for digital video storytelling in a series and for explanatory reporting in the Online Journalism Awards.
CalMatters was awarded first place for “Agents of Chaos: Tracking Border Patrol Operations Across the US” for digital video storytelling in a series, along with co-creators Evident Media and Bellingcat, and awarded first place for “License to Kill” in explanatory reporting. CalMatters journalists are also finalists for immigration reporting for “Agents of Chaos” and for a single newsletter for “My Legislator.” Award winners in those categories will be announced at an in-person awards ceremony Oct. 1.
First Place, Digital Video Storytelling, Series – Small/Medium Newsroom
The powerful documentary, “Agents of Chaos: Tracking Border Patrol Operations Across the US” was CalMatters’ first venture in film. CalMatters collaborated with Evident Media and Bellingcat to produce three films for YouTube and vertical video.
Our investigation exposed the aggressive tactics and misinformation behind what would become the blueprint for the mass deportation campaigns carried out by immigration forces nationwide. It focused on the claims of Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino, who then led raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and beyond.
Judges praised the “innovative use of open-source videos — verifying them and plotting them on a map — and how those elements came together to give audiences a deeper understanding of what’s happening as part of the mass deportation campaign.”
The video series:
- Exposed the government’s justification for the raids as patently false, laying bare the racial profiling at the heart of the operations.
- Introduced the nation to Border Patrol leader Gregory Bovino, who would become the high-profile architect of the national raids.
- Revealed the legally questionable tactics being used by immigration agents in the beginning days of the Los Angeles raids.
- Identified Border Patrol agents who were repeatedly involved in violent altercations with immigrants and protesters across multiple cities.
Congratulations to the large newsroom winner, Business Insider for “View From Above,” and to the finalists: Alianza Rebelde Investiga, Cazadores de Fake News, FRONTLINE (PBS), ProPublica, The Texas Tribune for “A Year in Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign Video Series,” The New York Times for “ICE and Immigration,” and ProPublica for “Sick in a Hospital Town.”
First Place, Explanatory Reporting, Medium Newsroom
In the ongoing investigative series, “License to Kill,” reporters Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler revealed that although the California DMV has the power to investigate drivers who cause fatal crashes, it rarely does – with tragic results.
Judges recognized the project “for its dogged accountability reporting and its ability to reveal systemic failures through deeply human stories.”
The ongoing investigative series shows that:
- DMV officials may call driving a privilege, but they treat it as a right.
- County court systems across the state simply failed to report hundreds of vehicular manslaughter convictions to the DMV, allowing roadway killers to improperly keep their licenses.
- As drunken driving deaths in California have risen at twice the rate of other states, California’s outdated DUI laws fail to differentiate between drunken drivers who made a dangerous mistake but learn from it and those who refuse to stop endangering lives.
- When confronted with the skyrocketing death numbers, officials with the power to do something about it — the governor, legislators, DMV leaders and the courts — failed to act.
- A diversion program has allowed some people charged with vehicular manslaughter to keep the case off their driving record.
- Though state law authorizes the DMV to investigate drivers involved in a crash that kills or badly injures someone, agency data shows it rarely uses that power.
Congratulations to the other winners: The Washington Post for “Floods Above” in the large newsroom category, and Wisconsin Watch for “Supreme Costs” in the small newsroom category. And congratulations to the finalists in the medium newsroom category: San Francisco Chronicle for “Burned: A San Francisco Chronicle investigation of the insurance crisis now devastating wildfire survivors,” Verite News & Grist for “Burned: The wood pellet industry’s effects on the U.S. South,” and ProPublica for “What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic.”
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