The endless flood of layoffs, staff reductions, tighter budgets, and shrinking news space in many U.S daily newspapers has finally caught the attention of the Pulitzer Board, who announced Monday that they would begin accepting submissions from publications that only publish on the Internet in all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories.
        Katharine Weymouth, Publisher of The Washington Post is encouraged by the Board’s announcement.
        ``The decision of the Pulitzer Board recognizes that journalism can come from any platform. ``Journalists, by definition, report news and provide analysis.  ``There is nothing in the definition of a journalist that requires that an article first be printed on a paper’’ Weymouth wrote in an email.
            Slate Editor, David Plotz, who echoes Weymouth’s sentiments that the Board finally is acknowledging there is a lot of great journalism being produced for online only news sites, still believes, however, that newspapers (particularly the big ones) are the source of an extraordinary amount of America's most important journalism. ``Online only outlets are doing tremendous work, Plotz maintains, but they don't yet drive America's newsgathering and producing.’’ 
        Sig Gissler, Administrator from the Pulitzer Board, in an email, wrote that if an ``online-only publication were to win a prize, it would have to meet standards of excellence and observers would probably note it as a significant event.’’
        The Board’s decision to widen the net into the online world for journalism excellence only seems like a natural progression.
        After all, aside from the Big Three (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post), more and more newspapers are shrinking their print editions to the point that you can practically read them at a stop sign, so it only seems reasonable to conclude, then, that some of the best journalism will come from Web-based news organizations as readers continue to migrate to the Web for their news, and as experienced journalists (whether after being laid-off, taking a buyout, or out of sheer frustration) leave newspapers and begin launching their own online news sites that will live up to their high standards.
        Walt Bogdanich, assistant editor for the New York Times’ Investigations Desk and winner of three Pulitzers' (two with the Times’ and one with the Wall Street Journal), wonders whether online reporters have enough money to finance a major reporting project? `` Right now, Bogdanich wrote in an email, I doubt it.  ``That could change, of course’’ 
        Last month, The New York Times  reported  there are already some high quality Web-based news organizations in place, including VoiceofSanDiego.org , Pro Publica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest ,and Crosscut, a Seattle based online news site.
        Jonathan Landman, Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times thinks there is without question excellent journalism coming from all sorts of interesting places. ``Josh Marshall (editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo ) is a shining and well-known example, and there are others’’ Landman said.
        Whether Web-based news sites will receive the bulk of journalism’s top prize in the coming years and whether we should expect even more changes from the Pulitzer Board, is still not entirely clear. Gissler would only go on to write that the Board ``periodically alters the rules to reflect significant changes in how journalism is produced and presented.’’
        The Pulitzer Board first allowed newspapers' online material in 1999, though it was limited to a single category: Public Service.
        It wasn’t until 2006 that newspapers' online materials in all 14 categories were accepted; and in 2007, according to Gissler ``a full range of newspapers' online material (from databases to video) into all categories, except photography where entries were restricted to still images’’ were accepted.’’
        The fact that the Board is now for the first time accepting entirely-online submissions in all categories and many online-only news organizations now are eligible to participate, is momentous, and a clear sign that journalism has indeed entered a new age.
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Remembering Liz Donovan

        Speaking of Pulitzers', there was a time, not so long ago, when news researchers were highly valued and thought to be a vital part of any news operation.
        One of the most valued was Liz Donovan, former Washington Post and Miami Herald news researcher, who died Wednesday from lung cancer in Gainesville, Ga. Donovan was 63.
         According to her own biography, the Ontario N.Y. native worked with Post reporter Murray Marder on the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and the following year with Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Pulitzer Prize winning Watergate expose. 
         In fact, if you pick up a copy of ``All the President's Men'' you will find the authors acknowledged Donovan’s research contributions, along with a note of gratitude to Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, Publisher Katharine Graham, and others
        After leaving the Post in 1975 and traveling to Central America, Donovan landed at the Miami Herald in 1981, where she contributed research to a number of nationally publicized stories, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Hurricane Andrew coverage in 1992.
        Donovan retired from the Herald in August, 2004.
        Recently retired Plain Dealer editor Doug Clifton, who was executive editor of The Miami Herald from 1991 through 1999, last recollection of Liz was that she was ``ALWAYS, ALWAYS eager to jump in and help and to apply all of her skills – and they were many – to get to the bottom of your quest. ``Newspaper research, Clifton wrote in an email, used to be folded clips in aging envelopes, Liz was in the forefront of making it the sophisticated discipline it is today. ``She was a rare professional and a wonderful person. She’ll be missed.’’
        Herald columnist Fred Grimm also expressed fond memories of Donovan.
        ``Liz always treated me has her special idiot for whom she would perform the most elemental functions imaginable. ``Stuff no self-respecting reporter would dare ask. ``But she'd say, "Oh, Grimm," roll her eyes and pull giant dollops of pertinent information out of the ether. ``It seemed like magic to me. In retrospect, I think it was. ‘’
        -Bill Lucey
         billlucey@bellsouth.net