PHEAA keeps on giving
Mar 31st, 2008 by JamieB
For all the bad stuff that went on behind its closed doors, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Association has proved a treasure trove for award-winning journalists, who persevered through thick stonewalling to open the state-run student loan agency to public scrutiny . . . and in the process helped change Pennsylvania’s 50-year-old Right-to-Know law, which allowed the shenanigans to go on for far too long.
Last fall, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence to reporter Jan Murphy and legal counsel Craig J. Staudenmaier of the Harrisburg Patriot-News for their work on the legislative pay raise, the still-unfolding bonus scandal, the time and money spent on the resulting legal actions – and, of course, PHEAA.
Established in 1998, the Franklin Award recognizes an individual who has performed an outstanding service or accomplishment to his/her newspaper; to the newspaper industry in general; to his/her local community; or to the PNA, that reflected positively on the newspaper industry in Pennsylvania.
Last week, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review announced that its affiliate, WTAE-TV, had won the Freedom of Information Award, a national honor, for its investigation into – yup – PHEAA.
WTAE-TV and investigative reporter Jim Parsons have won a prestigious national award for “pushing open the front door” of the state-run student loan agency, which cost taxpayers more than $1 million in frivolous spending.
The station, Parsons, news director Bob V. Longo, photographer Kendall Cross and editor Mike Lazorko won the Freedom of Information Award, a special award given annually by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. to individuals or organizations whose significant actions further open records or open government.
“It’s one of those awards that … speaks to what we do. We ask questions, we are told no, we fight to get the answer and the answer is so impactful that it changes people’s lives … it changed the law,” Longo said.
The award carries with it an IRE Medal, the highest honor the organization can bestow for investigative reporting. MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Salt Lake Tribune and Bay Area News Group were other medal winners.
The honor is for an 18-month series of reports Parsons did on the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
“Parsons pushed open the front door of a closed government agency … revealing glaring examples of wasteful and abusive spending of taxpayer money,” the judges wrote.
They said that Parsons took his advocacy on behalf of open records beyond reporting.
“He organized the first of four statewide forums on the Pennsylvania’s Open Records Act and has been instrumental in obtaining legislative support in behalf of a new state Right to Know law,” the judges said.