Oakland Local is proud to receive a 2011 A Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Reporting – Media Award from the California Grand Jurors’ Association for our coverage of the CEDA/Building services issues and the Alameda County Grand Jury report.
The citation reads: "Many media organizations reported on the 2010-2011 Alameda County Grand Jury’s investigation and subsequent report titled “City of Oakland Building Services Division,” however, it was the comprehensive series of reports by Oakland Local that made a significant impact and through this exposure, created a positive change in the government of the City of Oakland. This extensive series of articles, which included interviews with citizens and city officials, was made possible by a grant from “The Fund for Investigative Journalism” in Washington, D.C. This Fund was founded in 1969 to grant money to determined journalists to assist in the fight against racism, poverty, corporate greed, and governmental corruption. The awarding of this national grant for press coverage substantiates the impact of the Grand Jury’s investigation and report.
"The Alameda County Grand Jury’s investigation was generated by many citizens who were negatively affected by the city of Oakland’s Building Services Division’s practices and who contacted the Jury to express their outrage. Through the series of articles presented by this media outlet, many other citizens were alerted to a means of finding resolution of their complaints with this Division."
The ward was presented at the association’s annual conference held in Napa on Nov. 7-8. Susan Mernit, founder and editor of Oakland Local, and reporter Barbara Grady attending the ceremony and accepted the award; reporter Jennifer Inez also shared the lead writing duties on the stories with Grady.
Representing the 2010-11 Alameda County Grand Jury were Dale Rogers Marshall, Foreperson; Dr. Patrick Preminger, Forman Pro Tem; and Anita Ramlo, Government Committee Chair.
The California Grand Jurors’ Association is a statewide nonprofit organization of former grand jurors dedicated to promoting government accountability by improving the training and resources available to California’s 58 regular grand juries and educating the public about the substantial local government oversight and reporting powers of those grand juries.
We're thrilled to receive this honor from them. The Fund for Investigative Journalism's grant made the work possible. Follow the stories recognized at oaklandlocal.com/tags/ceda.
If you'd like to support what we do, make a donation to our nonprofit at bit.ly/dPU5NZ.
http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2011/11/ca-grand-jurors%E2%80%99-association-gives-award-oakland-local-outstanding-coverage
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