Press Action Awards 2005
Press Action
Friday, December 23, 2005
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/awards12222005/
Press Action presents its inaugural “Press Action Awards,” which track achievements of reporters and commentators in the print, broadcast and online journalism communities. Without further ado, here are the winners:
Amy Goodman
The Democracy Now! host did not show any fatigue after a grueling speaking and broadcast schedule in 2004. With Goodman at the helm, DN remains the best news program on radio or TV.
LewRockwell.com
Llewellyn Rockwell and the contributors to his site steadfastly oppose all U.S. imperial ventures. LewRockwell.com, though, looks beyond issues of war and peace to publish articles on a wide array of topics that often delight, and sometimes annoy, the site’s many loyal readers. Honorable mention: CounterPunch.org and The Black Commentator.
Jeremy Scahill
Scahill provided exclusive reports on heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries patrolling the streets of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. While all journalism should be investigative, Scahill is the quintessential on-the-ground investigative journalist. His recent articles on shell-shocked al Jazeera and empire-loving Democrats weren’t too shabby either. Honorable mention: Seymour Hersh for his Iraq reporting in the New Yorker and James Bamford for his excellent piece on the Rendon Group in Rolling Stone.
William Blum
Blum is in a class by himself. His monthly “Anti-Empire Report” puts the perpetual criminal activity of Washington’s political class into proper context. For instance, the December report analyzes the torture policy of the Bush administration and offers this little nugget: “Interestingly, the United States granted immunity to a number of the German and Japanese torturers after [World War II] in exchange for information about their torture experiments.”
Eschaton
In this off-election year, Eschaton was less consumed with political races. This gave the site more time to expose the shenanigans of the Bush junta and its partners-in-crime in Congress and the media. Honorable mention: The Angry Arab News Service and Mickey Z.’s Cool Observer.
Left I on the News
Eli Stephens’s Left I on the News delivers far and away the best media analysis anywhere in the blogosphere.
Alternative Press Review
After going into hibernation for a couple years, APR came back with a bang in 2005. Editors Tom Wheeler, Jason McQuinn and Allan Antliff work hard to ensure the magazine publishes original and reprinted material that meets the standards of its tagline: “Your guide beyond the mainstream.”
Dave Zirin
Zirin, now a regular contributor to The Nation, watched his new book What’s My Name, Fool? enter its second printing before the end of 2005. His analysis of the progressive side of sports has struck a chord with readers and the publishing industry. He recently signed with the New Press to write “A People’s History of Sports,” part of Howard Zinn’s People’s History series.