Capital & Main Wins National Award for Coverage of Amazon

Capital & Main has won a first-place award in the retail reporting category from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors’ (SABEW) Best in Business contest. “The ‘Amazon Tax’ Ruling: Disrupting the Disruptors?,” by David Dayen, examines Amazon’s continuing efforts to avoid taxes. “The reporter cuts through the popular perception that Amazon has become a responsible corporate citizen on the sales tax front, illustrating both how easy it would be for the company to make its third-party sellers comply and the obstacles states face in recovering the money themselves,” wrote the judges.

Capital & Main also won Honorable Mention from SABEW in the government reporting category for its investigation of lead poisoning among workers at the former Exide battery plant in Vernon. Joe Rubin’s story, “Battery Blood: How California Health Agencies Failed Exide Workers,” documents how state agencies turned a blind eye for decades to high lead blood levels at the plant. “This effort exposed the health dangers of a battery recycling plant and how California state agencies failed to protect workers from exposure. The story cuts against conventional wisdom and is a good reminder of the value of watchdog journalism,” the judges said.

And in more good news, Capital & Main board member Rick Wartzman won SABEW’s first-place award in the commentary category for his columns in Fast Company. “Rick Wartzman injects fresh thinking into some of the defining business and political economy topics of our time. His arguments are thought-provoking and bolstered by context and his writing is clear,” wrote the judges.

The Best in Business awards are the only comprehensive set of awards honoring excellence in business journalism, and are sponsored by SABEW, which was formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events and issues.

Copyright Capital & Main