This is about breaking it down. All the way down. To the word.
Word is John Archibald and Alabama Media Group won a Pulitzer Prize last week, awarded for a series of John’s columns that had words that often shined a light on injustice. It’s a huge deal in the journalism business to be given this, the highest award in our line of work.
But what does AL.com’s winning the Pulitzer Prize mean for readers?
John Archibald gave readers insight into an investigation of the governor with examination of dozens of impeachment documents. These are the words from a bodyguard’s journal.If nothing else, it’s a confirmation that there’s been effort and success at being a watchdog in the public’s interest and an advocate on the right things, the right side.
On the controversy over Confederacy monuments, Archibald said:
At this point in our history – after natural and manmade disasters, after church bombings and scarlet letters on our chests that had nothing to do with football, after the Civil Rights Movement, after revolution and reconciliation, after hard-fought progress and a quest for better hearts, is this really our story?
A 150-year-old war in which our forefathers sought to leave America rather than allow freedom for all?
Is that who we are?
I know what the Pulitzer award means for me:
More proof that words are precious; words can connect us. Or tear us apart.
Words that Archibald used to expose hidden wrongdoings have had effects, both immediate and repercussions we haven’t even seen yet. His words have begun (or continue) the dismantling –slow as it seems — of corrupt politics in Alabama, where deals have for too long been made for the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.
Read full version of this story at AL.com.