Why we do this work

THE PHILLIES weren't the only ones who had a good day yesterday.

So did the Daily News.

Reporters Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism for their "Tainted Justice" series.

The series brought to light a rogue squad of narcotics cops with questionable dealings with drug informants; they were also systematically looting mom-and-pop stores, storming into bodegas under the guise of busting them, then smashing surveillance cameras to take whatever they wanted.

The series launched an FBI investigation and a special FBI federal and local task force. Police brass placed five veteran narcotics cops on desk duty; four of the five were stripped of police powers. The Police Department placed tighter controls on officers and their confidential informants.

The Pulitzer is just the latest in a series of awards the series has garnered. But it's certainly the biggest, and it's worth reflecting on what it means. Not because we're interested in draping ourselves in laurels. This series - and the prizes themselves - are a good reminder of why newspapers matter.

Any editor who's submitting work to the Pulitzer committee knows that a critical part of the application is making the case for what impact the nominated work has had. Did change happen? Were reforms initiated because of the work? Consider some past winners: when the Washington Post detailed the travesties of the Walter Reed Army Hospital, major reforms resulted. The Chicago Tribune's exposure of faulty governmental regulation of toys, car seats and cribs led to recalls and congressional action. The New York Times exposed the abuse of mentally ill adults in state-regulated homes.

What these winning entries and others also have in common: They exposed wrongs. That exposure is the essence of good journalism, and that's why good journalism is essential to democracy. Unless we're free to question, and have the right to demand the truth, especially of our government and institutions, we don't have democracy. And no other watchdog exists on the scale of the newspaper industry, which is organized around the notion of exposing the truth and demanding that the light of day shine on areas that some would prefer to remain dark.

Newspapers are struggling, in part, because "content," that is, the news, is an expensive proposition. It's labor-intensive to have a newsroom of trained professionals digging, reporting, wearing out shoe leather, all the while adhering to high ethical standards.

But society can't afford the alternative.

Consider changes in this city that have happened in the past year alone: Thanks to the "Tainted Justice" series, things changed in the Police Department. And thanks to strong series in the Inquirer, both the Board of Revision of Taxes and the criminal- court system are undergoing review and reform. These are big victories, but there are also countless smaller ones: stories and columns that right smaller wrongs and make a huge difference in individual lives.

Today, while we're especially proud of the work of our winning reporters, we're also proud to be doing this work every single day. *