Considered the most prestigious award every year in the field of journalism, the Pulitzer Prize is run by the School of Journalism at Columbia University, USA and has been awarded since 1917 to honor outstanding journalism works.
In an introduction on the website, the Pulitzer Prize's prestigious organizing committee emphasized, "with a series of articles reporting urgent and clarifying the failed assassination attempt on Mr. Donald Trump - then a candidate for President of the United States - the way of storytelling in detail and sharp analysis, combining traditional investigative journalism with audio and visual assessment techniques", the Washington Post's reporter team was honored in the Breaking News Reporting category.
Quick reflex
In an interview, the Washington Post said: "Mr. Donald Trump was in Butler, Pennsylvania to participate in an outdoor election campaign. Less than 10 minutes after he began his speech, in the hot July heat, the event suddenly changed direction. The gunshot rang out at the former president while he was standing on stage, injuring his ear. "Lay down! Lie down!" - the US Secret Service shouted. Mr. Trump immediately bowed and was taken off the scene. The whole area fell into chaos".
In that context, the first bulletin from the scene was published almost immediately by the Washington Post at 6:61 p.m. local time, in the form of a live update. Initially, the exact cause of the loud explosion was not determined.
Information about the hotline was urgently sent to users by the Washington Post over the phone, with a prominent title posted on the newspaper's homepage.
At 6:44 p.m., the first images recorded by photo reporter Jabin Botsford were released, showing blood flowing on Mr. Trump's face. Seven minutes later, the Washington Post, citing a US Secret Service source, said Trump was safe.
At 10:28 p.m., the newspaper reported that 2 people had died, including the suspect.
At 8:05 p.m., the newspaper confirmed that the FBI was investigating the incident as an assassination plot.
According to the Washington Post, at the time of the assassination, photo reporter Jabin Botsford was only a few meters away from Donald Trump in the security area around the stage. He kept his position amid the chaos to take photos and videos with Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Reporter Isaac Arnsdorf, who follows the event from the press area, continuously sends news clips updated with quick developments via Slack application to promptly post on the Washington Post's live bulletin.
Just 3 hours after the shooting, at 9:18 p.m., the Washington Post published an attractive article co-authored by two reporters Arnsdorf and Botsford, detailing the chaotic scene at the scene. The article is considered to have outstanding details compared to other press agencies at the same time.
In-depth investigation
Three days after the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the Washington Post published the investigation results showing that suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks took advantage of the leaning roof and trees to obstruct the view of the shooters to secretly go to the shooting location.
The Washington Post reporter created an accurate 3D model of the assassination area. This is a challenging mission due to not being able to access the scene. The team used satellite images to measure the length and width of buildings, along with lidar data from the US Geological Survey to determine the height of the works and terrain slopes. The group also analyzed lidar data to calculate the slope of the roof and used videos and photos to determine the relative size of temporary structures such as stands and stages.
In another article in the Washington Post, the team analyzed the recordings and consulted with audio experts to determine 10 fires in about 16 seconds. The first eight shots had similar sound characteristics and were identified as from suspect Crooks. The remaining two shots, including one exploding just after the 8th, occurred about 10 seconds later. Analysis shows that the 10th shot has sound characteristics consistent with the US Secret Service's firing position. Meanwhile, the Ninth transmission was determined to have come from another source.
Through interviews with local police and video analysis, the Washington Post determined that the Ninth shot fired by a local response team member and the shot startled Crooks, stopping before being shot down by a US Secret Service slasher.
bravery in work
Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray called the series of articles about the failed assassination attempt on Mr Trump to win the Pulitzer Prize a great victory because the series of articles had the contribution of many departments in the court of editors.
Mr. Murray took office at the Washington Post in June 2024, just about a month before the failed assassination attempt on a US presidential candidate in Butler County, a northern rural area of Pittsburgh. He was impressed to see many reporters from different departments of the Washington Post quickly volunteer to report when the incident occurred.
Two of us were present at the scene, Isaac Arnsdorf and Jabin Botsford, as well as all the reporters, Secret Service and others there, were in an extremely dangerous moment and showed great courage in continuing their work in an emergency and dramatic situation, Mr. Murray said.
Reporter Isaac Arnsdorf described the series of articles honored with this prestigious journalism award as a collective effort, maximizing the diverse professional skills of the newspaper's reporter team.
This really shows the value of having professional journalists present at the scene in situations like this. You have neutral observers, well-trained, objective behavior in a chaotic context, where a lot of information spread online is then proven untrue," he said.
Meanwhile, photographer Jabin Botsford shared frankly: No one would want to go through such an event, but I am grateful to have been able to contribute to the Washington Post series.
I can document what happened that day thanks to 10 years of training and preparation, which I have gained from my role and collaboration with the Washington Post. It is an honor to witness history taking place right before my eyes and working in an organization that always respects and encourages journalism through images".
