Reuters wins Pulitzers for Philippines reporting, Rohingya photography

Reuters won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for international reporting and photography while the New York Times and Washington Post shared honours for exposing sexual harassment in America and detailing the US investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

The Pulitzers, the most prestigious awards in American journalism, recognised Reuters in international reporting for exposing the methods of police killing squads in Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, and for feature photography documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

“In a year in which many Pulitzers were rightly devoted to US domestic matters, we’re proud at Reuters to shine a light on global issues of profound concern and importance,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J Adler said.

It was the first time Reuters has won two prizes in one year.

In the Philippines coverage, Reuters reporters Clare Baldwin, Andrew RC Marshall and Manuel Mogato “demonstrated how police in the president’s ‘drug war’ have killed with impunity and consistently been shielded from prosecution,” Adler said.

The coverage included a report that revealed how a police anti-drug squad on the outskirts of Manila had recorded an unusually high number of killings. Many members of the squad came from a distant place that was also Duterte’s hometown, where the campaign’s brutal methods originated during his time as mayor there.

The Reuters photography staff was honored for images of the violence endured by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, as they fled Myanmar for Bangladesh.

“The extraordinary photography of the mass exodus of the Rohingya people to Bangladesh demonstrates not only the human cost of conflict but also the essential role photojournalism can play in revealing it,” Adler said.

Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been jailed in Myanmar since Dec 12, charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in Rakhine state.

In the United States, major media took other Pulitzers for reporting that shaped the political and cultural agenda, reports Reuters.

The New York Times and the New Yorker magazine shared the honor for public service for their reporting on sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

The Pulitzers in New York have been awarded since 1917, after being established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The 17-member Pulitzer board is made up of past winners and other distinguished journalists and academics.