Mario F. Cattabiani was a journalist for ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

''. In 2004, he won the Ralph Vigoda Award of Excellence for March in which he continued his coverage of Peco Energy Co.’s two secret deals to donate $17 million to a nonprofit group run by aides to then-state Sen. Vince Fumo, and he wrote several stories on “ghost voting” by legislators, which prompted an investigation of the practice by the state House Ethics Committee. In 2005, he won second place in The Society of Professional Journalists Spotlight Award for his coverage on ghost voting in the PA Legislature. In 2005, he was named one of "Pennsylvania's Most Influential Reporters" by the Pennsylvania political news website

PoliticsPA PoliticsPA.com is a website centered on the politics of Pennsylvania. Content The website reports on political and campaign news in Pennsylvania, from the state legislature up to federal races. The editors write occasional features, like the we ...

. In 2008, the political website PolitickerPA.com named him one of the "Most Powerful Political Reporters" in Pennsylvania. He was criticized by the ''

Philadelphia City Paper ''Philadelphia City Paper'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The independently owned paper was free and published every Thursday in print and daily online at citypaper.net. Staff reporters focused on labor issues, ...

'', a former alternate weekly newspaper, for writing an "unethical" front-page article about Sen.

Daylin Leach Daylin Leach (born June 23, 1961) is a former American politician and lawyer, who was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 17th senatorial district from 2009 until 2020. He was previously a member of the Pennsylvania House of Repre ...

, who had criticized Cattabiani's reporting. However, following Cattabiani's story detailing Leach's blog that mixed political satire with amateur sketch-comedy bits heavy on sexual jokes, Leach ended his online postings. In 2002, the political website

called Cattabiani the "Worst Capitol Correspondent" when he worked at ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

'', saying that he had "compromised his respect as a journalist" by writing sensationalized articles that "seem better suited for the tabloids."

References

Living people Journalists from Philadelphia Pennsylvania political journalists American newspaper reporters and correspondents The Philadelphia Inquirer people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-journalist-20thC-stub