South Carolina Journalist Is Pulitzer Finalist for Insurance ‘Black Box’ Coverage

For the second time in three years, reporter Tony Bartelme of the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, is a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

The Pulitzer foundation announced that Bartelme was one of three finalists this year for the award for explanatory reporting.

Bartelme did a series of stories called “Storm of Money” about how insurance companies use “black box” computer programs to set rates and control billions of dollars with little scrutiny from regulators.

Bartelme also was a finalist in feature writing in 2011 for a story about a neurosurgeon teaching brain surgery techniques in Tanzania in hopes it would be a model for providing health care in developing countries.