Jun 19, 2009  |  By: Staff & Wire Reports  | COMMENTS     

Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson won second place in the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Dateline Awards in the category of best weekly newspaper investigative reporting last week.

Johnson won for a story titled, “Media, military kept soldier in closet after death,” which chronicled the life and death of Alan Rogers, a gay service member killed in Iraq. Other media outlets refused to acknowledge Rogers’ sexual orientation in news coverage of his death.

“Chris is an aggressive, tenacious reporter and his award is well deserved,” said Blade editor Kevin Naff. “Alan Rogers was a brave, patriotic American and his full story deserved to be told.”