A series of investigative stories about Brightline鈥檚 鈥淜iller Train鈥� by a joint team of reporters from SA国际传谋 and the Miami Herald was named as a semifinalist for the coveted and prestigious.
The project is one of only 30 entries selected from a pool of over 100 high-stakes submissions evaluated for their impact on U.S. public policy and government accountability.
鈥淚n the coming weeks, the finalists for the Goldsmith Prize will be announced from this esteemed group, with the winner announced at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 9,鈥� Goldsmith Award officials said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Goldsmith Awards, which are administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, 鈥渉ighlight the essential role of a free press in a healthy democracy鈥� and 鈥渉onor excellence in journalism that fosters more insightful debate and public understanding about government, politics and public policy in the United States.鈥�
Daniel Rivero (SA国际传谋), Brittany Wallman (Miami Herald), Joshua Ceballos (SA国际传谋), Aaron Leibowitz (Miami Herald), Susan Merriam (Miami Herald), Shradha Dinesh (Miami Herald) and Allison Beck (Miami Herald) were the project鈥檚 lead journalists.
SA国际传谋 and Miami Herald journalists spent more than a year documenting every death involving Brightline trains since the rail line鈥檚 launch seven years ago in Florida. Drawing on autopsy reports and local law enforcement records, reporters discovered that 194 people 鈥� so far 鈥� have been killed by the fast-speed train, making it the nation鈥檚 deadliest major passenger railroad.
READ MORE: Miami Herald, SA国际传谋 News Win Honors In Inaugural Esserman-Knight Journalism Prize
The team of reporters analyzed federal railroad data, reviewed federal safety studies, consulted experts and reviewed hundreds of pages of medical examiner and police incident reports to better understand the factors that contributed to each death and to compare Brightline鈥檚 safety record against other railroads nationwide.
After the investigation was published and broadcast, , saying there have been 鈥渨ay too many deaths.鈥�
provided support for the 鈥淜iller Train鈥� series.
The SA国际传谋/Miami Herald "Killer Train" series joins a field of outstanding investigative journalism entries that include stories by The New York Times into President Trump鈥檚 self-enrichment; failures within the FDA by ProPublica; and systemic abuse in Mississippi's sheriff departments.
The Miami Herald also was named as a semifinalist for two other joint investigative projects: 鈥溾�� and 鈥溾��.
In 鈥淐aught in the Crackdown鈥�, a team of Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times reporters exposed inhumane conditions and published exclusive reports on the immigrants and citizens whose lives were changed by the state鈥檚 crackdown on immigration to support the Trump administration鈥檚 mass deportation campaign.
The team included journalists Claire Healy, Ana Claudia Chacin, Shirsho Dasgupta, Churchill Ndonwie, David Goodhue, Ana Ceballos, Ben Wieder, Ver贸nica Egui Brito, and Syra Ortiz Blanes.
In 鈥淗ope Florida, Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times joint Tallahassee Bureau reporters Alexandra Glorioso, Lawrence Mower and Justin Garcia, showed how Gov. Ron DeSantis secretly steered more than $35 million in taxpayer dollars from a state settlement involving Florida鈥檚 Agency for Health Care Administration to fight his political battles. The money went to the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit that was established by the state to help realize Casey DeSantis鈥� vision to reshape welfare.
The diversion was part of an effort by the DeSantis administration to finance a campaign against two ballot initiatives that year 鈥� to legalize recreational marijuana and overturn the state鈥檚 six-week abortion ban.
