NEW YORK • The stories were published last October and the explosive revelations soon brought down Harvey Weinstein and spawned a cultural watershed on the issue of sexual harassment.
On Monday, the New York Times and The New Yorker - which published the exposes - were lauded and given the Pulitzer Prize for public service.
The prestigious prize was given to the Times team led by Ms Jodi Kantor and Ms Megan Twohey and New Yorker contributor Ronan Farrow, for reports that disgraced the Hollywood mogul and sparked an avalanche of allegations against other powerful men.
More than 100 women have publicly accused the producer of misconduct ranging from sexual harassment to rape, sparking a #MeToo movement that has seen other influential men, from actor Kevin Spacey to director Brett Ratner, lose their reputation.
Weinstein's marriage has ended, he has been under police investigation in London, Los Angeles and New York, hit by a litany of civil lawsuits and his former production company has been forced to file for bankruptcy.
Farrow is the son of actress Mia Farrow and film director Woody Allen, and something of a prodigy who has previously fronted his own television show, worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan for late American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, and advised Mrs Hillary Clinton on global youth issues when she was United States Secretary of State.
The former Rhodes scholar, who graduated from Yale Law School at just 21, has sided with his sister Dylan's claims that Allen molested her when she was seven. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations.
"So so so proud," tweeted Mia Farrow minutes after her son's award was announced while he paid tribute to his co-winners and The New Yorker.
"This moment gets called a reckoning but we just started telling the truth about old abuses of power.
"Thanks to all who keep doing so," he wrote on Twitter to his nearly half a million followers.
The winners of the 102nd edition of the Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York by administrator Dana Canedy at a time when the news media is still under assault from the White House for peddling "fake news".
She praised the winners but also counselled the media to do more to improve trust with a sceptical public and work harder to include more varied gender and racial perspectives.
The Washington Post won the Pulitzer in the investigative category for relentless reporting seen as having influenced the outcome of a 2017 Senate race in Alabama, revealing Republican candidate Roy Moore's alleged past sexual harassment of teenage girls.
His opponent Doug Jones won the race last December, becoming Alabama's first Democratic senator in 25 years and dealing a humiliating blow to President Donald Trump's Republican administration.
The New York Times and The Washington Post shared the national reporting prize for furthering understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the connections between Russian actors and the Trump campaign, his transition team and administration.
Ms Canedy said: "Winners uphold the highest purpose of a free and independent press even in the most trying of times.
"These courageous, inspiring and committed journalists and their news organisations are undaunted in their mission in support of the fourth estate.
"It is a mandate that has been under a seemingly relentless assault of late but that remains central to a healthy democracy," she added.
Reuters won the 2018 prize in international reporting for coverage of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
