Daniel Walters honored for deep dive into public records compliance

InvestigateWest reporter Daniel Walters was given the Kenneth F. Bunting Award, recognizing journalistic excellence. Walters examined compliance with public records laws by filing records requests with 15 cities in Idaho, Oregon and Washington in a months-long reporting project. His months-long reporting, “Broken Records: Citizens face growing obstacles to public records — and legislators are making them worse,” documented performance disparities among agencies and a troubling patchwork of rules and obstacles for requesters.

The Bunting Award recognizes journalists and media outlets for work that uses or advances Washington state’s open government laws, or educates citizens about them.The award honors the work of the late Ken Bunting, an executive editor and associate publisher with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer who helped found WashCOG.