Monthly Journalism Award.

Peter Gosselin Los Angeles Times 

Three-part series, Oct-Dec 2004:

--"If America is richer, why are its families so much less secure?"

--"The poor have more things today--including wild income swings."

--"How just a handful of setbacks sent the Ryans tumbling out of prosperity."

A pervasive sense of economic insecurity has edured among American families despite low unemployment and increasing stock ownership. But American's financial fears are not irrational and the causes behind them are not unitentional. In an exhaustively researched series for the Los Angeles Times, Peter Gosselon identifies a three decade-long political and corporate effort to shift economic risk away form business and onto the backs of Americans. For those at the bottom, the ongoing corrosive attacks on the social safety net have made every layoff, accident, or illness a potential economic catastrophe. Meanwhile, middle- and upper-income Amercians have see the promise of job security shredded due to a corporate culture that no longer recognizes any obligation to its employees. Weaving together sound economic and political analysis with great storty-telling, Gosselin delineates the forces changing our economy and the families whose lives have been sent into tumult. Gosselin shows that in today's economy, no one feels secure because no one is secure.

The Monthly Journalism Award is presented each month to one or more newspaper, magazine, radio, or television stories (or series of stories) that demonstrate a commitment to the public interest. We are particularly interested in reporting the explains the successes and failures of government agencies at all levels and of other institutions such as the media, corporations, unions, and foundations that contribute to the existence or solution of public problems. Please send nominations (including a copy of the article or broadcast text) to The Washington Monthly Journalism Award, 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20005. Or email us at [e-mail].