News & Observer reporters win awards for piercing secrecy at two NC institutions
The North Carolina Open Government Coalition recognized News & Observer journalists this week for shedding light on hidden doings inside two influential state institutions.
Dan Kane, Kate Murphy, and Martha Quillin received a Sunshine Award from the group Thursday for multiple stories penetrating secrecy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan received another for revealing private budget negotiations between Republican leaders at the General Assembly and the administration of Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
After former police chief David Perry left his post at UNC-Chapel Hill, the state’s flagship campus did not disclose why. But investigative reporter Kane obtained internal audits that concluded the former chief had misspent money, misused a university vehicle and improperly used a criminal information database, the coalition noted.
Kane and Murphy, a higher education reporter, broke news that chief campus fundraiser David Routh was moonlighting with an investment firm, which some viewed as a conflict of interest. They obtained and cited a campus document noting a conflict of interest management plan. Routh resigned from the part-time job after the disclosures.
Murphy and general assignment reporter Quillin reported criticism of secrecy surrounding a contract between the Hussman Foundation, UNC-Chapel HIll and its journalism school. Murphy published details of the agreement after revelations that donor Walter Hussman Jr. weighed in on the proposed hiring of prominent journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones as faculty. Many considered that an overreach.
Working the state government beat, Vaughan documented secret budget negotiations between Republican members of the North Carolina General Assembly and Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s administration. That shed light on a hidden process of importance to millions of North Carolinians shaping everything from public employees’ salaries to state tax policies.
Based at Elon University, The Open Government Coalition promotes transparent government in North Carolina, including the public’s access to records and meetings. With annual journalism awards, it celebrates reporting that deploys public records and other tools to shed light on all that government does.
Vaughan, for instance, obtained communications between legislative leaders that brought insight to how how the state budget took shape. “The public records process is often the only method of achieving a full understanding of consequential policy, usually after deals are reached,” a coalition statement applauding the reporting said.
The coalition’s awards are announced during Sunshine Week, a yearly celebration of open government and transparency.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 9:32 AM.