Filipino Journalist Manny Mogato Wins Prestigious Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting

Manila-based Thomson Reuters journalist Manuel “Manny” Mogato was just awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting alongside Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall for their “relentless reporting that exposed the brutal killing campaign behind Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.”

The Pulitzer Prize is the most prestigious award for achievements in journalism, literature, and music composition in the United States. “In a year in which many Pulitzers were rightly devoted to U.S. domestic matters, we’re proud at Reuters to shine a light on global issues of profound concern and importance,” Reuters editor in chief Stephen J. Adler said.

IMAGE THE PULITZER PRIZE

The journalists' series “Duterte's War” reported on the so-called “Davao Boys” in the narcotics unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, and the use of hospitals to hide drug killings. Through crime data and interviews, the reporters cast a new light on the official accounts of police killings in Philippine President Duterte's effort to weed out drug dealers in his country. The same series also won in the Investigations category of the Amnesty International Media Awards, and was also selected for Amnesty's Outstanding Impact Award.

With over three decades of experience as a journalist, Mogato has reported on various disasters, coups and insurgencies, diplomacy, and politics including the “People Power” uprising, the Marawi siege, the Mount Pinatubo eruption, and super typhoon Haiyan, among other important news. He started as a police/crime reporter for the People’s Journal and as an assistant news editor for The Manila Times. In 2003, he started at Thomson Reuters as a political and general news correspondent. In addition to being a journalist, he works as a lecturer at his alma mater, University of the City of Manila.

Thomson Reuters was up against the staff of Associated Press and Buzzfeed News for this year's award. Last year, The New York Times won the International Reporting Pulitzer Prize for its “agenda-setting reporting on Vladimir Putin’s efforts to project Russia’s power abroad, revealing techniques that included assassination, online harassment and the planting of incriminating evidence on opponents.”

Mogato is the seventh Filipino to win a Pulitzer. He joins Carlos P. Romulo, Byron Acohido, Alex Tizon, Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Jose Antonio Vargas, and two Filipino-Americans to receive the prestigious award.

Read Reuters’ series “Duterte’s War” here.