Cox Media News Wins News Reporting Award

Cox Media Group (CMG) announced that its local Investigative Reporting teams and KFF Health News have won the inaugural broadcast reporting award from The Center for Integrity in News Reporting. This is the 11th award for CMG/KFF’s investigative reporting on Social Security overpayments and their impact on vulnerable Americans.

The Center for Integrity in News Reporting is dedicated to recognizing and awarding excellence in news reporting that embodies impartiality, objectivity, and fairness. The organization’s mission is to restore and maintain public trust in news reporting and it honors those who demonstrate these core values in their reporting.

CMG and KFF Health News earned this national recognition for “Social Security’s Secret,” an hour-long news special based on their year-long investigative series, “Overpayment Outrage.”

This series exposed the true magnitude of Social Security overpayments by revealing two million Americans each year were being hit with overpayments.

As a result of CMG’s reporting, the Social Security Administration (SSA) not only restored many people’s benefits, it also announced sweeping policy changes to stop what then-SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley called the “clawback cruelty” of withholding 100 percent of people’s benefits to recoup overpayments. Instead, the agency began withholding 10 percent, made overpayment notices easier to understand, shifted the burden of proof from beneficiaries to the SSA, and extended payment plans to five years.

“Social Security’s Secret” was written and produced by Jodie Fleischer, CMG’s managing editor for investigative content and collaborations, and Josh Wade, CMG’s executive producer for investigative content.

“When our reporting encourages those in power to take action to improve the lives of millions of people, it just reaffirms our mission to protect consumers and positively impact the people and communities we serve,” Fleischer said.