NEW YORK CITY — The New York Press Club has awarded its prestigious annual President's Award to Murray Weiss, DNAinfo New York's criminal justice editor, investigative journalist and columnist, the club announced Tuesday.
"From his days with the Daily News and the Post, to his current role as Columnist and Criminal Justice Editor at DNAinfo New York, Murray Weiss has had a special talent for breaking stories," said Steve Scott, president of the New York Press Club, in a statement. "Big stories. Explosive stories. Stories that opened previously closed doors and rattled wrongdoers. Stories that had other journalists quoting Murray in their stories."
The President's Award honors journalists "whose careers have had a significant salutary impact on the practice of journalism and whose involvement in community affairs has enriched the lives of New Yorkers," according to the Press Club's website.
Previous winners include: Bill Gallo, the legendary Daily News sports cartoonist; John Miller, the former TV correspondent who's now the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counter terrorism and intelligence; and Irene Cornell, a trailblazing reporter for WCBS radio.
Weiss is widely respected as one of the city’s most knowledgeable and thoughtful enterprise criminal justice reporters and has exposed government and police corruption while breaking news on virtually every major story in New York. These include the Sept. 11 attacks, a rogue NBA referee, the Mafia Cops, the rope scandal deaths of city firefighters, the Amadou Diallo and Abner Louima cases, and the Central Park Five.
“Since joining DNAinfo, Murray has continued his award-winning ways with ground-breaking stories on the NYPD Ticket Fixing scandal, the Millionaire Madam, Rachel Noerdlinger, Stop-and-Frisk, and the recent Legionnaires' disease outbreak," said DNAinfo New York's Managing Editor Michael P. Ventura.
“We are proud to have him with us, and are thrilled that he will receive this well-deserved award recognizing his distinguished journalism,” Ventura added.
Here are some of Murray Weiss's most notable stories:
► City 'Ignored' Legionnaires' Death of Bronx Teacher in April, Family Says
► De Blasio Aide Did Not Disclose Ex-Con Lover on Background Check: Sources
► Stop-and-Frisks Fail to Pull More Guns Off the Street, NYPD Stats Show
► NBA in a Fix [The New York Post]
► Diallo Cops to Give Their Side of Story — A Tale of 8 Seconds That Shook The City [The New York Post]
