USA Today's Chu wins Polk Award for credit series

Among the 13 coveted George Polk Awards announced today, Kathy Chu of USA Today won the business reporting award for “Credit Trap,” a 2008 series showing how banks and other credit-card issuers used shady practices and steep fees to take billions from unwary customers. The citation says: "Her reporting, which helped to educate Congress and American consumers on the inner workings of the financial services industry, led to a flurry of similar news coverage across the country. Consumer advocates have lauded Chu for playing such a pivotal role in uncovering the extent and impact of abusive credit practices."

In a nod to the growing importance of citizen journalism, judges said the videography award went to the people responsible for recording the death of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan at a June protest in Tehran, Iran, and uploading the video to the Internet. "Agha-Soltan reportedly was shot by a pro-government militiaman,'' the judges said. "The video, which shows the woman collapsing to the ground and being attended to by several men as she lay dying on the street, became a rallying point for the reformist opposition in Iran after it was broadcast over the Internet. Seen by millions as it spread virally across the Web, the images quickly gained the attention of international media."



Uploaded to Dailymotion by ART1988.

Long Island University has administered the George Polk Awards since their inception in 1949. The awards were established to memorialize George Polk, a CBS reporter who was shot and killed in 1948 while covering the civil war in Greece.

Related: the complete list of winners

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[Image: today's USA Today, Newseum]