Telling the Story of Government, Good and Bad

The Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting

Twenty-three years ago, I took a call from my grandfather that changed my life.

My grandfather, Bob Greenfield, told me about a program I was vaguely aware of — the Goldsmith Awards — and his vision for improving public policy by encouraging investigative journalism that has a positive impact on government in the U.S.

Using funding from a former legal client of his, Bob set up a foundation (now called the Greenfield Foundation) and worked with the Shorenstein Center at Harvard to set up the Goldsmith Awards program. He invited me to get involved with both the Greenfield Foundation and the Goldsmith Awards. I quickly said yes.

That year, I joined the judging process for the Goldsmith Awards as a fly on the wall. For several years after that, Bob and I would brave the late January weather in Cambridge, MA to be part of the judging panel. Initially Bob was judge and I was an observer, and then we switched: I got to serve as judge and Bob whispering to me as needed.

Bob emphasized that my role was — and is — to ensure that the reporting that we recognize is centered on having a positive impact on public policy in the United States. This year will be my twenty-third year involved with judging for the Goldsmith Awards.¹ And I’m proud to say that we have recognized dozens of impactful stories as semi-finalists, finalists, and winners.

Most of those stories have surfaced waste, fraud, and abuse that exists in our governments and public institutions. And that is incredibly valuable.

However, I’ve increasingly realized that highlighting waste, fraud, and abuse isn’t the only way that journalism can have a positive effect on government and public policy. There are many cases where government is staffed by people with good intentions trying to solve important problems, but that often isn’t enough to ensure good outcomes. Sometimes the time and investment yield strong results, and sometimes the results are quite poor. California has spent decades and billions of dollars on high speed rail with nothing to show for it, while Pennsylvania was quickly able to rebuild I-95.

Jen Pahlka’s book Recoding America was especially insightful in highlighting how and why government often fails in implementation, and suggesting ways it can improve. Last year, we recognized an outstanding story from KFF Health News and Cox Media Group about both the causes and effects of overpayment of Social Security payments.

As President of the Greenfield Foundation, I’m incredibly fortunate to have something of a megaphone to help tackle this problem. The Greenfield Foundation partners with (and financially supports) the Shorenstein Center around the Goldsmith Awards Program. Together we seek to support journalism that shines a light on the mechanisms, processes, and incentives that can influence the effectiveness of government.

The Greenfield Foundation and the Shorenstein Center have worked together to launch a new $15,000 prize, the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting, honoring reporting that focuses on the functioning of government and the implementation of public policy. We seek to award pieces that use an explanatory and solutions-focused lens to illuminate a government or public policy implementation process, program, or problem.

Effective government and state capacity are vital to the U.S.’s continued growth. We hope that better explaining the good and bad of government workings will help along that path. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and I’m proud to honor my grandfather’s vision with this new prize.

1. I missed one year, right after my second daughter was born.