Media Milwaukee Wins Open Records Award for Sexual Harassment Stories

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student news website Media Milwaukee won a 2017-18 Open Records “Scoop of the Year” award from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.

Media Milwaukee was awarded the “Scoopee” on March 8 for its investigation into dozens of sexual harassment and assault allegations on the UWM campus. Media Milwaukee is the only university site to win an award this year. Media Milwaukee is sharing the open records award with the Wisconsin State Journal.

talis shelbourne, jennifer rick
Talis Shelbourne and Jennifer Rick.

The awards recognize “extraordinary achievement in the arena of open government,” the Council said in a press release. Both Media Milwaukee and the Wisconsin State Journal “pushed back against official secrecy to break major stories on sexual harassment,” the Council said.

“For more than a decade, the Opees have served to remind state residents that open government is a perpetual struggle, with heroes and villains,” said council president Bill Lueders. “We need as many of the former as we can get.”

Read the full story on the award here.