Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Wendy Ruderman admitted to being a little distracted Thursday evening during her appearance at Ashland University, but it was only because she cares so much about her work.
Ruderman’s confessed distraction was the result of breaking news related to her recently released book, “Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brother Love.” Federal and Philadelphia prosecutors announced on Thursday that they would not file charges against the police officers featured in “Busted,” which Ruderman co-wrote with her Philadelphia Daily News writing partner Barbara Laker.
“I know that sometimes justice is measured,” Ruderman said. “But justice denied, that’s really tough.”
In spite of the bad news, or maybe because of it, Ruderman displayed a sense of humor and a brashness that has helped her get results during a more than 15-year journalism career with The Associated Press, The Trenton Times, Bergen Record, Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Times.
Ruderman’s appearance at the Ashbrook Center was sponsored by the Ashland University Department of History and Political Science, the Department of Journalism and Digital Media, the Honors Program and the Ashbrook Center.
Ruderman and Laker won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism in 2010 for their series “Tainted Justice” which uncovered allegations of widespread misconduct by a group of Philadelphia narcotics officers. The reporters discovered that a rogue narcotics squad was routinely looting mom-and-pop stores, often owned by immigrants, and one squad member was sexually assaulting women.
The story started for Ruderman when Police Informant Benny Martinez walked into the newsroom saying that he feared for his life. That conversation led to a 10-month, 10-part series, that made the two reporters the target of death threats and slurs.
“One person online called us the ‘slime sisters,’” Ruderman said. “Barbara and I adopted that and to this day still jokingly call ourselves that.”
During her presentation Thursday night, the veteran reported showed an emotional video of one of the women, Dagma Rodriguez, who said she was sexually assaulted by officer Thomas Tolstoy. Rodriguez is one of three women who told Ruderman and Laker that Tolstoy had assaulted them during one of the squad’s raids.
Although the story of “Busted” is one of police officers abusing power, Ruderman said, “I actually love police officers. I really do. But if law enforcement starts to break laws to enforce laws, how can we have confidence in them.”
Besides telling the tale of how Ruderman and Laker uncovered the alleged corruption, “Busted” is also the story of the decline of one of our country’s oldest industries: newspapers. Although the profession has changed and many list journalism as one of the worst professions, Ruderman still believes in the power of the press and the necessity of the media to keep powerful people in check.
“I still believe journalism is one of the greatest professions in the world,” Ruderman said. Comparing the job of journalism with a trip to a circus, Ruderman described her profession as “a ring-side seat to life.”
The changing business of newspapers has left her employer, The Philadelphia Daily News, with six owners in eight years.
Ruderman and Laker included themselves as “characters” in the story, including behind-the-scenes details of writing the series, which required them to expose parts of their private lives along with their professional lives.
“We really included a lot of personal details in the book,” Ruderman said. “We wanted to include even more but our editor would tell us, ‘No, we’re not going to include that.’”
The story of “Busted,” which was published on March 10 by Harper Collins, has attracted the attention of Hollywood. Before they wrote the book, Ruderman said they were approached by people wanting to buy the rights to the story.
“We decided to write the book because we wanted to control the narrative,” Ruderman said. Now that the book has been written, she said they have sold the rights to a producer who wants to make their story into a TV miniseries.
“The producer told us, ‘You guys really captured the beginning of the end of your industry.’”
Ruderman said big Hollywood names like Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Aniston have read the book and are interested in being involved with the TV project.
Although the process of writing and promoting “Broken” was arduous, Ruderman wants to write another book, possibly fiction.
In addition to her presentation, Ruderman also spoke to two journalism classes Friday at Ashland University, sharing the story of “Busted” and her years of experience in newspapers.
“I know that sometimes justice is measured,” Wendy Ruderman said. “But justice denied, that’s really tough.”
