Both yes and no.

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Lincoln Steffens Award Honors Reporting on Violations of Public Records Act.
May 11, 2001. An investigative report on how well local agencies complied with California s Public Records Act has been awarded first place in the daily newspaper category in Sonoma State University s annual Lincoln Steffens Awards for Investigative Reporting.
The winners in each category are:
Daily Newspapers
* Stockton Record, "Public Records: Denied," first place. The reporting team consisted of Mike Adamick, Sarah Grunder, Dogen Hannah, Dana Nichols, and Amy Starnes. They investigated how well local governments and schools complied with the Public Records Act. They found that government agencies violated the law almost as often as it was followed.
* San Jose Mercury News, "Uncertain Refuge," second place. The story, by Frederick Tulsky, was about the granting of asylum to immigrants and how varied rulings are even in similar cases.
* Stockton Record, "They Use It Like Candy," third place. This report, by Nancy Price, covered the use of prescription mood-altering medications in California s Youth Authority of Stockton.
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