Pulitzer Center

I'm so grateful for Spark Media's partnership with Pulitzer Center. Partnerships like this make telling stories that spark social change possible! In honor of this special partnership, we collaborated together on Public Defender's first film teaser release! What do you think? What an incredibly apt time to be sharing this story, especially in light of the current political events.

Military.com worked with veterans and scientists to investigate health risks among America’s nuclear missile workers, which hadn’t been studied since the early 2000s. What they found was troubling. Join Bill Burich, director of the Torchlight Initiative, and Military.com reporter Thomas Novelly for a discussion about the health system challenges veterans who worked with ICBMs face and possible solutions moderated by Pulitzer Center Senior Editor Susan Ferriss. Learn more about Pulitzer Center’s webinar series ‘fuel, foul air, & fallout: The Health Tolls of Energy and Defense in the United States’ and register. 👉 https://bit.ly/3y7m0mH

Thank you Covering Climate Now for the award, IndiaSpend for providing the story a home and Pulitzer Center for supporting the story. I am still befuddled that India discontinued its National Adaptation Fund in 2023; Left to cope on their own, people find new ways and the story became a process for many of them to come together and brainstorm. In that sense journalists become a link to the outside world, the global negotiations and remote areas that lack access. We don't just take information, we also share what we know. As highlighted in the awards, I have hopes for this process. Thank you judges for your insightful comments "While justice is mentioned in many climate stories, in this category, judges considered work featuring a justice angle as its primary subject — among them: peril and hope on the frontlines of the climate crisis, unexpected intersections of climate change with other systems of injustice, and marginalized groups pioneering solutions to show the world a path forward." https://lnkd.in/d5BXsCVH Thank you Christine Spolar for your support and encouragement

Join the Pulitzer Center for three virtual discussions about projects that investigate how extractive industries and defense impact Americans’ health. On July 25, 2024, join Bill Burich and Military.com reporter Thomas Novelly for a discussion about the challenges veterans who worked with ICBMs are facing in health systems and possible solutions, moderated by Pulitzer Center Senior Editor Susan Ferriss. On August 13, 2024, hear from journalists Carlyle Calhoun and Quinn Glabicki and senior principal in RMI’s Climate Intelligence Program Deborah Gordon about the gas boom in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Appalachia. Senior Editor Steve Sapienza will moderate. Our third and final webinar scheduled for August 20 with the journalists who worked on 'Neglected and Exposed' will be announced shortly. Register now! 👉 https://bit.ly/3LvNt4s

Grateful for partners like Pulitzer Center who make our work telling stories that spark social change possible! In honor of this special partnership, we wanted to drop the first publicly released film teaser of Public Defender in collaboration with them!! What do you think? How does what you’ve seen thus far make you feel especially in light of the current political events? Let us know in the comments! #publicdefenderfilm #disagreebetter #listentolisten #healthedivide #healthedivide2024 #january6 #film #democracy #democracyfilm #documentary #shortdocumentary #democracydoc #presidentialelection #filmmaking #Election2024 #americanpolitics #politics #PoliticsToday #political #PoliticalNews #Trump #bipartisan #bipartisanship #politicalpolarization

Breakthrough genetic research at a Massachusetts lab could save the world’s vanishing kelp forests—and support American kelp farming, too. Pulitzer Center fellow Alexandra Talty reports in the latest installment of our in-depth series, “Kelp’s Tangled Lines,” produced in partnership with the Ocean Reporting Network.

Heather Shaner, a fierce, blue-haired defense attorney from D.C., has been championing those who can’t afford legal representation for over 40 years. However, after January 6th, 2021, when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, her empathy was put to the ultimate test. Shaner was tasked with defending two nonviolent rioters: Jack Griffith, a social media influencer, and Annie Howell, a single mother and painter. According to Shaner, both were misled by misinformation instigating the attack, believing they were defending democracy. The documentary “Public Defender,” supported by the Pulitzer Center, delves into the fragile state of U.S. democracy and the people dedicated to safeguarding it. Watch as Shaner’s journey reveals how trust and understanding can bridge the political divide and uncover our shared humanity. A documentary by grantee Andrea Kalin and Spark Media. 👉 https://lnkd.in/dmFvp7eR

Stories on social media about Grab’s seemingly steep prices and drivers’ complaints about their diminishing take-home pay inspired this Pulitzer Center reporting project. 🤝 Working with Federico Acosta Rainis, Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, Jabes Lazaro, Felipe Salvosa II, and our team of 20 researchers, we tried testing whether claims about Grab’s expensive rides could be proven systematically. 🧪 We designed an experiment to understand how Grab’s surge pricing model works. The surge fee is the cost added by Grab to get more cars on the road when booking requests exceed the drivers available. This is computed by an algorithm. 🤳 Our team tried booking a GrabCar nearly every hour for an entire week. We also obtained data from Grab’s public API every 15 minutes. Our collection represented a small portion of the ride-hailing firm’s data, but it offered useful insights into the inner workings of its algorithm. 🔎 Here’s what we found: 1. GrabCar rides always included surge fees.  2. Customers still often endure lengthy wait times even when they already pay high fares. This means Grab's surge pricing model doesn’t always work as advertised. ‼️This problem isn't unique to Grab. Ride-hailing companies in other countries, like Uber, have been criticized for using surge or dynamic pricing to make a profit instead of managing supply and demand. 🚘 Since buying out its only credible rival Uber, Grab has been penalized and fined a total of P86.7 million by the Philippine government for violating its merger deal commitments, particularly on pricing. 👀 Regulators are not fully aware of how Grab’s algorithm works. Without guardrails, these are prone to abuse, experts say. 🔑 LTFRB needs to resolve its two-year-old surge pricing inquiry. Legislation covering algorithmic abuse, algorithm audits, and fostering homegrown innovation are some ways forward.

Are you a journalist with an interest to report on AI impact on your community? Join our Ask Me Anything Session on July 17th. We are currently accepting proposals for our third cohort! Our AI Network Manager Boyoung Lim & AI Fellow Karol Ilagan will discuss the details of the current call for proposals and any questions about the Fellowship experience. AI Accountability Fellowship is a 10-month program that includes financial support for your reporting project, a community of peers, mentorship, and training opportunities. We are currently recruiting eight to 10 journalists from anywhere in the world to report on the impacts of algorithmic and automated systems in their communities. If you are interested please register for the Ask Me Anything session here! 👉 https://bit.ly/4664yLM

🚨 The story we've been working on with Karol Ilagan for months as part of her fellowship at the Pulitzer Center's AI Accountability Network was published today at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and PumaPodcast 🎉 🚕 We designed an experiment to dive into the fare calculation algorithm of Grab, the most popular ride-hailing service in the Philippines, used daily by thousands of people. 👨🔬 To understand what was going on inside the 'black box', we collected data every 15 minutes for a week on ten trips in Metro Manila, a city with some of the worst traffic in the world. We got hundreds of data points. 🔎 What did we find? 1. The trips always included surge fares 2. Higher fares didn't necessarily mean shorter wait times 🗞 READ HERE the full investigation: https://lnkd.in/d-3PYdEk 📻 The investigation will also come out in two podcast episodes on Puma Podcast, the first one already on air: https://lnkd.in/dUEU7YAt Learn here about the methodology we used: https://lnkd.in/dgU9vSNG