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Blockbuster articles about contaminated surgical tools at Detroit Medical Center sparked immediate government attention two weeks ago.
Now The Detroit News' half-year of investigative reporting by Joel Kurth and Karen Bouffard earns compliments from Columbia Journalism Review, published in New York by Columbia University.
Contributing editor Trudy Lieberman speaks with the writers and lauds them for a public service that "has prompted a joint state-federal investigation, spurred a flurry of coverage in other Detroit news outlets, and could galvanize an important discussion about public disclosure of hospital safety data."
What the reporting drives home is how long the concerns persisted, even as doctors and other staffers repeatedly sounded the alarm. . . .
There’s a broader discussion happening in healthcare right now about greater transparency on a number of fronts, and The News' series is an important contribution to that debate—in addition to providing important scrutiny that benefits the people of Detroit.
Score this one a hit for accountability coverage by a local newspaper.
-- Alan Stamm
