Winners announced in 2014 Mirror Awards competition

Winners in the eighth annual Mirror Awards competition honoring excellence in media industry reporting were announced today at a ceremony in New York City, hosted by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Gayle King, co-host of “CBS This Morning” and editor at large of O, the Oprah Magazine, emceed the event, which was held at Cipriani 42^nd Street.

The winners, chosen by a group of journalists and journalism educators, are:

Best Single Article – Traditional/Legacy Media:

“Local Story” by Rachel Aviv (The New Yorker)

Best Single Article – Digital Media:

“Politico’s Mike Allen, native advertising pioneer” by Erik Wemple (The Washington Post)

Best Single Story – Radio, Television, Cable or Online Broadcast Media:

“The Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook” by On the Media: Brooke Gladstone, Katya Rogers, Alex Goldman, PJ Vogt, Sarah Abdurrahman and Chris Neary

Best Profile – Traditional/Legacy or Digital Media:

“The Operator” by Michael Specter (The New Yorker)

Best Commentary – Traditional/Legacy Media:

Michael Meyer (Columbia Journalism Review) for “False fronts”; “Unfinished business”; and “News havens”

Best Commentary – Digital Media:

Jina Moore (Salon, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic) for “Don’t blame the victim, or the photographer”; “Documenting domestic violence”; and “‘South African Violence’ Only Explains the Pistorius Case If He’s Not Guilty”

John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting:

“Combat Journalism” by Frank Greve (CQ Researcher)

In addition to the juried awards, special awards were presented to David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications, who was honored with the Fred Dressler Leadership Award; and Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, co-executive editors of Re/code, who received the i-3 award for impact, innovation and influence. Tom Freston, principal at Firefly3, presented the Dressler award and Patricia Fili-Krushel, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, presented the i-3 award.

Steve Miron, chief executive officer of Bright House Networks; Tonia O’Connor ’92, president of content distribution and corporate business development at Univision Communications Inc.; and Melinda Witmer, executive vice president, chief video officer and COO of Time Warner Cable Networks, were luncheon co-chairs.

The Mirror Awards are the most important awards for recognizing excellence in media industry reporting. Established by the Newhouse School in 2006, the awards honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.

For more information about the awards, contact Sarah Hope at 315.443.5711 or mirror@syr.edu.