ABC News' Brian Ross Investigative Unit Scores 2014 Goldsmith Award Nomination

It was announced today that the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's School of Government recognized ABC's Brian Ross, Matthew Mosk and the ABC News Investigative Unit, in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity, as a 2014 Goldsmith Award finalist in investigative reporting for "Breathless and Burdened: Dying from Black Lung, Buried by Law and Medicine."

This ABC News/Center for Public Integrity year-long joint investigation exposed how doctors and lawyers, working with the coal industry, helped defeat benefit claims of coal miners who were sick with deadly black lung disease. ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity examined countless legal documents and medical records to uncover how medical professionals, hired by the coal industry, denied the existence of black lung on miners X-rays. After the reports aired on ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline," Johns Hopkins suspended their black lung program, with Congress calling for reformed legislation and a thorough federal investigation.

The ABC News Investigative Unit were previously named Goldsmith Award finalists in 2011 for "Peace Corps: A Trust Betrayed," and in 2001 for the investigative series, "The Money Trail," which examined the corrupting influence of big money on national politics.

Nominees for the 2014 Goldsmith Awards will be announced by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on March 5, 2014.