LITERATURE & JOURNALISM: Barbara Laker & Wendy Ruderman

The News Hounds

by Jeffrey C. Billman

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Published: Oct 20, 2010

Neal Santos PAPER CHASE: Wendy Ruderman (left) and Barbara Laker, photographed Oct. 12 in the newsroom at the Philadelphia Daily News, where they penned their Pulitzer-winning investigative series.

It all started inauspiciously enough. A source at the Police Advisory Commission told a police informant to go talk to Wendy Ruderman, a reporter at the Daily News. And he did. But the story Ventura Martinez told through tears took on a life of its own: The cops, especially narcotics officer Jeffrey Cujdik, were fudging search warrants, Martinez said, and lying about evidence. Later, Ruderman and partner Barbara Laker's investigation went to a whole new level: Numerous immigrant bodega owners told them Cujdik's elite narcotics squad had raided them, cut surveillance camera wires, and taken cash, cigarettes and other items. The cops, the store owners said, would then report only a small percentage of the confiscated goods, and pocket the rest.

The "Tainted Justice" series, 10 articles in all throughout 2009, prompted a still-ongoing joint FBI/internal affairs investigation and a slew of Philadelphia Police Department reforms regarding how cops handle their informants. And then in April, Ruderman and Laker brought home the big cheese of journalism awards: the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting — a well-deserved honor for a series marked by dogged and uncompromising shoe-leather reporting and document-culling.

"We found out [about the Pulitzer] with the rest of the world," says Laker. An editor, she says, saw their award on a wire story. "It was one of the most emotional moments in my entire life. The whole room became, like, electric."

What's perhaps most remarkable, and bodes well for watchdog journalism in this city, is that even in bankruptcy, the DN remained committed to this project. Other reporters picked up two or three stories a day to allow them the time to report.

"We believed in this story, our editors believed in it," Laker says. "We knocked on hundreds of doors. That was the beauty of it, in a way — getting back to what journalism is all about."

Literature and Journalism Honorable Mentions

Dennis Tafoya
Because Philadelphia deserves a homegrown novelist who's able to, in the worms-eye tradition of David Goodis, show the city at street level, both panoramically and specifically.

Tom Ferrick/Metropolis
The longtime Inky man's site promises in-depth news, analysis and commentary, and delivers. And its Vox Pop blog opens the discussion to anyone with something to say.

Brownstoner
The scrappy blog has become a vital source for real estate and development news.

Solomon Jones The Daily News columnist is releasing his seventh book and has an NBC development deal cooking.

City Paper Choice 2010
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS: Seth Williams
MUSIC: Girls Rock Philly
PERFORMING ARTS: Beth Nixon & Pig Iron Theater Co.
SPORTS & RECREATION: Charlie Manuel
SUSTAINABILITY & DESIGN: Rina Cutler
VISUAL ARTS: Philagrafika
ACTIVISM/WATCHDOGS: South Philadelphia High Asian Student Advocates
FILM & SCREEN: Don Argott
FOOD & DRINK: The Food Trust