Dean Ann Brill congratulates reporter Tim Carpenter from The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Dean Brill congratulates staff from The Arkansas City Traveler

The 2007 Burton W. Marvin Kansas News Enterprise Award goes to The Topeka Capital-Journal, whose coverage triggered the downfall of Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison. The Arkansas City Traveler earned the award in the community journalism category for its coverage of the murder of a popular local college student.

Given since 1974 by the William Allen White Foundation, the Burton Marvin award recognizes outstanding reporting by newspapers in Kansas. The award is named in honor of the foundation’s first director and a former dean of the KU School of Journalism. The award was presented Feb. 8 during William Allen White Day activities at the University of Kansas.

“We are proud of the rich history of journalistic excellence in Kansas,” said Ann Brill, Dean of the School of Journalism. “It is an honor for the School to be associated with this prestigious award. We congratulate The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Arkansas City Traveler.”

In Topeka, things started with a whisper in the form of an anonymous e-mail. Special-projects reporter Tim Carpenter seized that opening and spent weeks unraveling the story of Morrison’s affair with Linda Carter, Morrison’s top administrative assistant when he was Johnson County District Attorney. Using the Kansas Open Records Act, Carpenter acquired telephone records and other documents that substantiated much of Carter’s version of her soured relationship with Morrison, which had continued after Morrison was sworn in as Kansas Attorney General.

Carpenter’s initiative and persistence led the way in coverage of the decline and fall of the state’s top legal officer. Five days after the initial coverage of the affair, Morrison resigned. He had confirmed the sexual relationship, but he denied professional misconduct.

The judges in the contest commented that The Topeka Capital-Journal’s coverage was in the finest tradition of the Burton W. Marvin Kansas News Enterprise Award.

The 4,000-circulation Arkansas City Traveler’s coverage reflected its commitment to serve the public as lead reporter Foss Farrar, a KU graduate, sorted through the limited information made available by local authorities. Farrar and his colleagues on The Arkansas City Traveler provided balanced accounts of the missing young woman, discovery of her body, and the arrest and charging of a local man in the case.

An ongoing story like this one is a special challenge to a community newspaper, which is pulled and tugged by rumors, said judges. It was important to be sensitive to the families of the victim and the accused and to help Arkansas City readers make sense of the tragedy. In addition to its extensive coverage, The Traveler made use of its Web site to update the story and to provide a place for readers to post their thoughts.

The judges also took special note of a compelling Kansas City Star entry that explored the ramifications of an attack on Kansas National Guard soldiers in Iraq. In the fog of battle, one was killed and several were injured. Reporter David Goldstein explored what took place before and afterward. His four-day series focused on the human emotions of all involved.

The School of Journalism observes William Allen White Day annually in February to coincide with White’s birthday. This year the White Foundation trustees chose Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winner and internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, to receive the citation, presented annually since 1950 to journalists who exemplify the ideals of William Allen White. KU's William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications is named in White's honor. White (1868-1944) was a nationally influential Kansas editor and publisher.

For more information, contact Jennifer Kinnard, Communications Coordinator for the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, at (785) 864-7644 or jkinnard@ku.edu.