Shedding light on traffic tragedies: Tribune reporter wins Feldman Award
By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)
Business reporter Sarah Freishtat is no stranger to the challenges of covering transportation in a bustling city like Chicago. So when a fellow Tribune reporter forwarded her an email about a journalism award centered on transportation, submitting one of her stories was a no-brainer.
“I saw what the backstory of the award was, with Casey’s story and what her family was trying to do, and I was really inspired by that,” Freishtat said. “I really appreciated the award’s focus on transportation because it really affects people’s day-to-day lives.”
Her story, explores the issue of vehicular accidents in which victims are injured and no one is charged. It also is the 2024 recipient of the Casey Feldman Award for Transportation Safety Reporting.
The reporting award honors Casey Feldman, a Fordham University journalism student who was killed by a distracted driver in 2009. It is sponsored by EndDD.org, which was created by the to end distracted driving, and by the journalism department at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information.
Two judges evaluated the submissions: Justin George, an editor at the Cowboy State Daily, and Chuck Plunkett, who directs the capstone journalism program Ƶ News Corps at Ƶ Boulder. George was formerly a transportation writer at The Washington Post, and Plunkett was formerly the editorial page editor for The Denver Post.
“Sarah Freishtat’s impactful story was an example of a transportation beat reporter showing unparalleled expertise, uncovering a clearly ignored failure of justice and public safety sitting right under everyone’s noses,” George said.
Vehicular crashes involving pedestrians had been on her radar for some time when she heard about two separate pedestrian accidents where a youth was struck while crossing the street. One involved then-17-year-old Nakari Campbell, who spent so many weeks recovering that she celebrated her 18th birthday in a rehabilitation center. Ja’lon James, 11, was crossing the street with his brother one morning when he was hit and did not survive. Neither family has discovered who was behind the wheel of the cars that changed their lives.
“I give a lot of credit to the families I spoke with, because it’s not easy to sit down and relive what is often the worst day of their lives—and I’m deeply appreciative of them letting me into their homes and into their lives,” Freishtat said. “Sitting in Ja’lon’s family’s living room talking to his mother and grandmother really drives home why this issue is important to talk about and why we do this.”
Reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson, of the San Francisco Chronicle, were recognized with an honorable mention for their project, which explored police chases. Their multimedia series looks into the statistics and methodology of police chases through storytelling, infographics and video footage.
Freishtat received a first-place prize of $3,000.