PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Seattle Times series that exposed the mistreatment of thousands of elderly residents in Washington’s adult family homes is the winner of this year’s Ted Natt First Amendment Award.
The award is named for the former publisher of The Daily News of Longview, who died in 1999. It was presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association in Portland.
The three judges were unanimous in choosing the series “Seniors for Sale” by reporter Michael J. Berens, who filed nearly 50 public records requests and examined over 15,000 pages of documents as part of his reporting.
His series found vulnerable adults have been exploited or harmed by amateur caregivers in some of the more than 2,800 adult homes in the state.
