Los Angeles Times Wins Top Honor in Investigative Business Journalism Awards

The Los Angeles Times won the top honor among global and national publications for its investigation into California’s legal cannabis industry in the 17th Annual Barlett and Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism.

Presented by the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, and named for the investigative business journalist team of Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, the awards recognize outstanding investigative business journalism. Winners were announced on Oct. 3.

The Times received the gold award in the global/national category for Legal Weed, Broken Promises, an investigative series that examined California’s dysfunctional and corrupt recreational cannabis market, and exposed regulators’ failure to protect the state’s cannabis workers.

In praising the series, the judges called the investigation “a richly-reported account of the devastating impact of the legalization of cannabis on the state of California. Local and state governments, which were totally unprepared, and even legal growers were overwhelmed by a surge in illegal cannabis cultivation, bribery and violence on a scale the state had never before witnessed.”

An event to spotlight the award recipients will take place on Nov. 1. To learn more about the awards and winners, visit businessjournalism.org.