The Nieman Foundation presented the 2016 Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism on May 4, 2017.
The award went to the Chicago Tribune and reporters Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan for their three-part series “Suffering in Secret.” The result of a yearlong investigation into the abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities in Illinois, the series has led to important reforms to remedy wrongdoing and provide new protections for victims.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the prize, which many of the country’s best investigative reporters have won since the award was established in 1967. To mark the occasion, a panel of former winners—including Michael Rezendes from The Boston Globe, Dana Priest from The Washington Post and Audra Burch from The Miami Herald, who recently started a new position at The New York Times—joined one of this year’s winners, Michael J. Berens from the Chicago Tribune, to discuss the impact and importance of investigative reporting.
