Michael M. York
Michael M. York | |
---|---|
Born | (1953-04-10) April 10, 1953 (age 71) High Point, North Carolina, U.S. |
Occupation | Attorney, journalist |
Nationality | American |
Education | University of Kentucky (BA) University of North Carolina School of Law (JD) |
Genre | Investigative journalism |
Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, 1986 |
Spouse | Rebecca Todd |
Children | 3 |
Michael M. "Mike" York (born April 10, 1953) is an American journalist and attorney. In the early 1980s, as the Washington correspondent for the Lexington Herald-Leader, he co-authored a series of exposes on improper cash payoffs to University of Kentucky basketball players which won him and his co-author, Jeffrey A. Marx, the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Early life and education
Michael M. York was born on April 10, 1953, in High Point, North Carolina.[1] In 1974 he graduated from the University of Kentucky, where he majored in journalism, and four years later graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law.[2]
Career
He wrote for the Durham Morning Herald and the Legal Times of Washington and served as an attorney for the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission before joining the Lexington Herald-Leader in 1979.[3] In 1981 he became the paper's Washington correspondent.[citation needed]
It was during this time that, along with Jeffrey A. Marx, he authored "Playing Above the Rules", a series of articles exposing improper cash payoffs to University of Kentucky basketball players and improper offers made to recruits by other universities.[4][5] The authors interviewed 33 former Wildcats – some of whom spoke to Marx and York with the goal of ending the abuses – and the paper sued the university and the state of Kentucky under freedom of information laws to get detailed information, including the names of specific violators, for the series.[6]
The initial reaction to the series was strongly negative: subscribers and advertisers boycotted the Herald-Leader, local media outlets heavily criticized the outlet and accused it of "sensationalism", and the authors received death threats.[7][8][6] However, the piece earned Marx and York the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, and led to NCAA regulation changes.[3][4]
York later became an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, where he broke news of the investigations of United States Representatives Dan Rostenkowski and Carroll Hubbard. He started his own legal practice in 1994.[5]
Personal life
He is married to Rebecca Todd and has three children, Emily, James and Natalie.[1]
References
- ^ a b Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C. (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 357. ISBN 9781573561112.
- ^ "Pulitzer Prize Winners". School of Journalism and Media. University of Kentucky. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Winners of Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters and the Arts". The New York Times. 18 April 1986. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Jeffrey A. Marx and Michael M. York of Lexington (KY) Herald Leader". Prize Winners. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Background". Wehner & York, P.C. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ a b Merritt, Davis (2005). Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. p. 162. ISBN 9780814428672.
- ^ Estep, Bill (June 14, 2015). "John Carroll, a 'truly great' editor who transformed the Herald-Leader, dies from rare disease". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ Alan, Bisbort (2008). Media Scandals. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 135. ISBN 9780313347658. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
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- Edward J. Mowery (1953)
- Alvin McCoy (1954)
- Roland Kenneth Towery (1955)
- Arthur Daley (1956)
- Wallace Turner (1957)
- George Beveridge (1958)
- John Harold Brislin (1959)
- Miriam Ottenberg (1960)
- Edgar May (1961)
- George Bliss (1962)
- Oscar Griffin Jr. (1963)
- James V. Magee, Albert V. Gaudiosi & Frederick Meyer (1964)
- Gene Goltz (1965)
- John Anthony Frasca (1966)
- Gene Miller (1967)
- J. Anthony Lukas (1968)
- Al Delugach & Denny Walsh (1969)
- Harold E. Martin (1970)
- William Jones (1971)
- Timothy Leland, Gerard M. O'Neill, Stephen Kurkjian & Ann Desantis (1972)
- The Sun Newspapers of Omaha (1973)
- William Sherman (1974)
- The Indianapolis Star (1975)
- Chicago Tribune (1976)
- Acel Moore & Wendell Rawls Jr. (1977)
- Anthony R. Dolan (1978)
- Gilbert M. Gaul & Elliot G. Jaspin (1979)
- Stephen Kurkjian, Alexander B. Hawes Jr., Nils Bruzelius, Joan Vennochi & Robert M. Porterfield (1980)
- Clark Hallas & Robert B. Lowe (1981)
- Paul Henderson (1982)
- Loretta Tofani (1983)
- Kenneth Cooper, Joan Fitz Gerald, Jonathan Kaufman, Norman Lockman, Gary McMillan, Kirk Scharfenberg & David Wessel (1984)
- Lucy Morgan, Jack Reed & William K. Marimow (1985)
- Jeffrey A. Marx & Michael M. York (1986)
- Daniel R. Biddle, H.G. Bissinger, Fredric N. Tulsky & John Woestendiek (1987)
- Dean Baquet, William C. Gaines & Ann Marie Lipinski (19)
- Bill Dedman (1989)
- Lou Kilzer (1990)
- Joseph T. Hallinan & Susan M. Headden (1991)
- Lorraine Adams & Dan Malone (1992)
- Jeff Brazil & Steve Berry (1993)
- Providence Journal-Bulletin (1994)
- Stephanie Saul & Brian Donovan (1995)
- The Orange County Register (1996)
- Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson & Alex Tizon (1997)
- Gary Cohn & Will Englund (1998)
- Miami Herald (1999)
- Sang-Hun Choe, Charles J. Hanley & Martha Mendoza (2000)
- David Willman (2001)
- Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham & Sarah Cohen (2002)
- Clifford J. Levy (2003)
- Michael D. Sallah, Joe Mahr & Mitch Weiss (2004)
- Nigel Jaquiss (2005)
- Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi & R. Jeffrey Smith (2006)
- Brett Blackledge (2007)
- Walt Bogdanich, Jake Hooker & Chicago Tribune (2008)
- David Barstow (2009)
- Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman & Sheri Fink (2010)
- Paige St. John (2011)
- Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan, Chris Hawley, Michael J. Berens & Ken Armstrong (2012)
- David Barstow & Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab (2013)
- Chris Hamby (2014)
- Eric Lipton & The Wall Street Journal (2015)
- Leonora LaPeter Anton, Anthony Cormier, Michael Braga & Esther Htusan (2016)
- Eric Eyre (2017)
- The Washington Post (2018)
- Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan & Paul Pringle (2019)
- Brian Rosenthal (2020)
- Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen & Brendan McCarthy (2021)
- Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington & Eli Murray (2022)
- Staff of The Wall Street Journal (2023)