Times reporters honored for MRSA series

Seattle Times reporters Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong won an Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award for their groundbreaking series on hospital infections, "Culture of Resistance."

"Through their skillful reporting," the judges commented, "Berens and Armstrong exposed a silent killer epidemic of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, which Washington state hospitals ignored for decades.

"The reporters analyzed millions of computerized hospital records, death certificates and created their own database to uncover nearly 700 previously undisclosed deaths attributed to the infection. Families were never informed that MRSA was the cause of death."

The Times series, published in November, provided the first accounting of MRSA infections in Washington hospitals. The state Department of Health now requires hospitals to reveal the number of their MRSA cases.

The IRE Award is one of journalism's highest awards for watchdog reporting. "Culture of Resistance" won the award in the large newspaper category, which includes those with circulations between 250,000 and 500,000.

Finalists in this category included The Oregonian, The Dallas Morning News, The Orange County Register and The Sacramento Bee.

Berens and Armstrong's series also won top honors from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in the "projects" category for large newspapers.