Does the Pulitzer Prize come with a mute button?
Certainly seems to, given how the Associated Press has gone silent since it scooped up a prize this April for its reporting on the NYPD’s Intelligence Analysis Unit.
Not that we’re sorry to see its relentlessly dubious series come to an end: The AP wrongly accused the cops of discriminating against Muslims — compromising an ongoing terror investigation along the way.
But its present hush speaks volumes.
In the 10 weeks before it won the Pulitzer, the AP published at least 45 stories about NYPD’s anti-terror efforts, including seven lengthy investigative yarns.
In the 10 weeks after it won the Pulitzer, the AP hasn’t produced a single investigative piece on the topic. Not a one.
And it’s published a mere eight news stories touching on the subject in that time.
Do the math:
Before the Pulitzer, five stories a week.
After the Pulitzer, not even one a week.
Before the Pulitzer, the AP put every article in an online database, an excess of rhetoric meant to seduce the prize committee.
After the award, most pieces disappeared.
Now, it’s always been clear that the AP doesn’t give a damn about the safety of New Yorkers — that was evident when it published classified documents listing the names of NYPD officers, analysts and even the subjects of ongoing surveillance who had no idea they were being tracked.
That put the city in jeopardy and may have done lasting damage to the NYPD’s ability to manage threats — but hey, all’s fair when you’re trolling for a Pulitzer, right?
Fact is, the NYPD’s Intel Unit has had a sterling record since it was established in the wake of 9/11, helping disrupt 14 terrorist plots against the city in the last decade.
The AP resolutely ignored all that, digging up fodder for frivolous lawsuits and the usual political grandstanding — yet it couldn’t find any laws broken by the NYPD or a single violation of individual rights.
Not for lack of trying, of course.
Then, the damage done, the agency’s attention-deficit disorder kicked in.
Make no mistake: We’re glad the AP is off the case. But nobody should be mistaken about what its crusade was all about.