View the evening’s program here:
The Park Center for Independent Media will host the 12th Izzy Award ceremony on October 28 at 6:00 p.m. Named after I. F. “Izzy” Stone, the legendary 20th century journalist, this award recognizes outstanding achievement in independent media—journalism created outside traditional corporate structures.
The ceremony will feature a speech from each of the Izzy recipients as they accept the award: Matt Taibbi, Lawrence Bartley for “News Inside,” and Carla Minet for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo. PCIM Director Raza Rumi will host the awards. Register on Zoom here.
This year, the Izzy Award recognizes Matt Taibbi for exceptional stories written throughout 2019 that tackled media bias, government misconduct, and the presidential campaign. He not only criticized conservative media, but liberal media for its empty ultra-partisanship that dodges conversations of corporate power. His partly reader-funded stories culminated in his book “Hate Inc.,” which the Izzy Award Judges call “original, irreverent, provocative, highly entertaining and, most of all, invariably based on hard digging.”
“News Inside,” the publication started in 2019 by The Marshall Project, is honored for its vital work of bringing curated reporting on criminal justice for circulation in prisons and jails. Initiated by Lawrence Bartley, who joined the Marshall Project in 2018 after serving 27 years in prison himself, the publication reaches more than 510 facilities in 38 states in the U.S. and Canada. Through “News Inside,” Bartley “delivers high-quality journalism to prisoners, with articles written by current and former inmates.” Bartley will accept this Izzy Award on behalf of the publication.
Finally, Puerto Rico’s Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) is recognized for its impactful 2019 public interest reporting, including on the government’s negligent disaster preparedness policies and the true death toll Hurricane Maria exacted on the island. CPI also published “900 pages of damaging secret chats between Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló and other top-level officials, sparking island-wide mass protests that ultimately brought down the governor” 11 days later. On behalf of CPI, Executive Director Carla Minet will accept the award.
The ceremony will take place virtually via Zoom on October 28 at 6:00 p.m. To attend, please register via Zoom. Join the Facebook event here.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodation, please contact Brandy Hawley, 607-274-3590 or bhawley@ithaca.edu, as much in advance as possible.