The San Francisco Chronicle’s exposé of neglect and violence in California’s behavioral health care system has won the 2026 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics
Two reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle have won the 2026 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics for a four-part investigation showing how California’s haste to open more behavioral health treatment facilities led to widespread violence and neglect.
Joaquin Palomino and Cynthia Dizikes spent more than a year pulling back the curtain on the rapid growth of for-profit psychiatric hospitals in California. The result is an explosive but sensitive account of the abuse and neglect inflicted upon patients and an exhaustive record of the state’s refusal to uphold its own laws or reckon with the facilities’ deplorable conditions.
In reporting what they found, Palomino and Dizikes weighed ethical issues such as when and how to describe harm, how to cover suicide and when to publish surveillance footage. Following their investigation, Governor Gavin Newsom declared understaffing in psychiatric hospitals to be an emergency and sent his health department in to investigate the incidents reported. Their work yielded minimum staffing mandates, more health inspectors and $1.8 million in penalties.
The Center for Journalism Ethics will present the award, which comes with a $10,000 prize, on April 20 in a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The event will also feature a conversation on journalism ethics with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic moderated by award-winning journalist David Maraniss.
Named for UW–Madison alum and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony Shadid, the award honors the difficult ethical decisions journalists make when telling high-impact stories. Shadid, who died in 2012 while on assignment covering Syria, was a member of the Center for Journalism Ethics advisory board and worked to encourage integrity in reporting.
The Shadid Award judging committee praised the extraordinary care the San Francisco Chronicle team demonstrated in carrying out their investigation. Kathryn McGarr, associate professor in the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and chair of the committee, said this year’s winning entry was once again chosen from a very strong slate of entrants.
“Palomino and Dizikes took such care with a vulnerable population that the state seemed to have abandoned,” McGarr said. “The committee appreciated that the journalists had to make choices for which there were no clear-cut answers and ultimately produced a consequential series that remained sensitive to the human beings at its center.”
Jeffrey Goldberg, the award ceremony’s featured guest, is the editor in chief of The Atlantic, and the moderator of “Washington Week With The Atlantic” on PBS. Goldberg is the 15th person to serve as editor in chief in The Atlantic’s 168-year history. Under Goldberg’s leadership, The Atlantic has won the first three Pulitzer Prizes in its history, and set new records for subscriptions. The Atlantic has also won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the magazine industry, for the past three years in a row. Goldberg is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award for Reporting, the Daniel Pearl Award for Reporting, the Overseas Press Club’s award for human-rights reporting, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Prize for best investigative reporter.
Conversation moderator David Maraniss is a New York Times bestselling author and former associate editor at The Washington Post.
The Center for Journalism Ethics, housed in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW–Madison, provides an international hub to examine the role of professional and personal ethics in the pursuit of fair, accurate and principled journalism. Founded in 2008, the Center offers resources for journalists, educators, students and the public, including internationally recognized conferences exploring key issues in journalism.
For information, contact Krista Eastman, Center for Journalism Ethics administrator, at krista.eastman@wisc.edu.