Last Updated: December 29, 2000
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Institute for journalism
excellence
Pulitzer ‘shocks’ small paper
By Warren Watson
When CBS called Eric Newhouse in April to get a comment about his freshly
won Pulitzer Prize, Newhouse thought it was a joke — and promptly hung
up.
Then he went looking for the jokester in the newsroom of his newspaper,
the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune.
When he couldn’t find the culprit, he called up The Associated Press
wire. “Unbelievable,” he said. “There was one of those Pulitzer Prizes,
sitting right next to my name!”
And, Newhouse confessed later, the prospect of winning the Pulitzer
was such a long shot that he submitted the $50 entry fee from his own pocket.
So it went for Newhouse, the lanky, journeyman reporter who surprised
an industry by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Explan-atory Journalism for
his 12-part series about alcohol and its effects on small-town life in
Montana. Newhouse, still giddy for toppling giant newspapers such
as The Oregonian and The New York Times in winning journalism’s top honor,
thoroughly entertained a roomful of educators at the June 11-16 American
Press Institute sessions for the ASNE Institute for Journalism Excellence
seminar in Reston, Va., telling the tale of his unlikely success.
“It was an enormous shock to win,” said Newhouse, clad in a white shirt
and tie, but wearing his signature handlebar mustache and black cowboy
boots. “It was glacial. Everything stopped when we learned we had
won.”
The enormity of the effort still has journalism watchers talking.
Unlike the major metros, the Tribune is only a 35,000-circulation daily,
with no special projects team or I-Team. “We beat the big papers
at their game,” said Newhouse.
The Tribune project was a daunting undertaking — 12 monthly installments
over one year. “Alcohol is woven into the traditions and daily life
that is Montana,” said executive editor Jim Strauss. “It provides jobs,
contributes taxes and supports community events. When it is abused, it
wrecks our marriages, batters our partners and retards the future of Montanans.”
Newhouse has been with the Tribune for 12 years, serving as news editor,
editorial page editor and projects editor, respectively.
He is not a stranger to project work. Before joining the newspaper,
he had an 18-year career with The Associated Press, and spearheaded the
coverage of dioxin contamination at Times Beach, Mo., while heading the
AP’s St. Louis office.
Mark Zieman, editor of The Kansas City Star and a member of the Pulitzer
panel that selected Newhouse, said the Great Falls paper pulled off “a
perfect 10” with its coverage.
“The subject matter (of the alcoholism series) has certainly been covered
by other papers, but not as creatively,” Zieman told a Tribune reporter
at the time the award was announced.
Newhouse’s techniques were rich and thorough, he explained to the journalism
educators. They were also rooted in respect for the victims of alcoholism
and their families.
“People were willing to share some incredible secrets,” said Newhouse.
“We treated people with respect. There was broad community support.”
That support started on Day 1, when Newhouse pulled together a panel
of 10 experts to guide the story. The group included counselors,
law enforcement officials, school officials and even a state senator.
He added, “We wrote about people, their problems and their triumphs.”
In all but two instances, full names were used. “People took me in
as a member of the family,” he said.
Journalism educators at the API/ ASNE seminar, who struggled all week
with the issue of getting more students interested in small- to mid-sized
papers, said the work is inspiring.
Said seminar participant Julia MacDonnell Chang, an assistant professor
at Rowan University, Glassboro, N.J.: “Such telling details. I was mesmerized
and plan to teach Eric’s series in my special writing class.”
Added Alice Rowlands, associate professor at Houston Baptist University,
“He is inspirational to future journalists.”
The goal of the Institute is to give journalism professors an updated
view of journalism through the API training and a six-week job at a daily
newspaper. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the Institute,
which is in its sixth year.
The prize also spawned some action in Montana. A new community task
force to deal with drinking and its social problems was organized, and
the Gannett Foundation has agreed to fund two new programs in Great Falls.
So, when do job offers follow, Eric?
“I’m happy right where I am, here in Great Falls,” said Newhouse, who
hopes to write a book and do more coaching of young writers.
He also hopes to do a substantive look at Montana’s children — in the
style of the Pulitzer series.
“It’ll take a team of mules to drag me out of Montana,” the writer said.
Whether Newhouse wins another Pulitzer Prize for that effort will remain
to be seen. But in the meantime, he savors No. 1 — as does his wife
Suzie.
Commenting on her storytelling husband: “I mean this is Mr.-walking-out-to-the-car-who-can-make-it-into-an-adventure-story.”
Watson, an associate director at API, organized this year’s Institute
for Journalism Excellence seminar.
