Over the past century the Pulitzer Prize has recognised the great and the good in journalism, literature, and musical composition. Now, for the first time ever, they have added audio reporting to the list of awards, the first of which has been won by “This American Life”.
The programme, which has run for a grand 25 years, marks the recognition of the importance podcasts as a medium to convey information, which the New York Times describes as “a force in journalism and culture”.
The award is shared by Ira Glass, the show’s presenter, and Nadia Reiman, one of the supervising producers of the show. The winning episode discusses the Trump administration’s policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols, or “Remain in Mexico”. Challenged in federal court, the protocol has seen some 60,000 migrants living in makeshift camps on the US-Mexico border.
When asked about the award, Glass complemented the use of podcasts to speak to a range of audiences. He said that: “It’s gratifying for the Pulitzer committee to recognize that this medium does have particular strengths, and that it can do some things better than other media can.”
As the show’s producer, Reiman remains pleasantly surprised by the show’s good fortune. “I never thought I would see something like this happen,” she said, “It’s the highest honour.”
Reiman continued: “I think how we treat people who we don’t consider to be citizens and who have no real political power says something about who we are as a nation.”
“This American Life” was an acclaimed podcast, even before its Pulitzer win, with a total of 3.1 million downloads per episode, and a further 2.2 million listeners to its radio broadcast each week.
Glass concludes that the show's receipt of the award, was “partly in recognition that we established a sort of beachhead.”
