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I. F. “Izzy” Stone “All governments lie,” said Izzy Stone, the ultimate unembedded reporter. Stone launched his first independent publication at age 14 and later became a reporter, editor, columnist, and powerful journalistic advocate for FDR’s New Deal at the then-liberal New York Post. As Washington, D.C. editor of The Nation, he exposed U.S. corporations doing business with Hitler’s Germany. He was one of the first to sound the alarm about the Nazi holocaust, and battled the National Press Club over its exclusion of African Americans. Founded in 1953, I. F. Stone’s Weekly stood bravely against racial discrimination, Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunting, and the lies propelling the Vietnam War. Izzy Stone has inspired generations of journalists and social-justice activists. “In this age of corporation men, I am an independent capitalist, the owner of my own enterprise . . . beholden to no one but my good readers,” Stone wrote in 1963. A true independent, he wrote books that passionately supported the birth of Israel, but strongly criticized its mistreatment of Palestinians. He advocated peace and negotiations with Soviet Russia, while denouncing its rulers. He despised racists, but defended their civil liberties—as he defended everyone’s. The Park Center for Independent Media presents the seventh annual IZZY AWARD honoring Naomi Klein and David Sirota His books include Underground to Palestine, The Hidden History of the Korean War, and Killings at Kent State. His collected writings appear in The Best of I. F. Stone. Read more at the official website supervised by Izzy’s son Jeremy, IFStone.org. The Park Center for Independent Media, launched in 2008, studies and educates about news outlets that create and distribute content outside traditional corporate systems. We deeply appreciate the support of the Park Foundation and of Jeremy Stone. The inaugural Izzy Award was presented to AMY GOODMAN and GLENN GREENWALD; 2009’s to JEREMY SCAHILL; 2010’s was shared by ROBERT SCHEER and CITY LIMITS; 2011’s went to SHARIF ABDELKOUDDOUS and the CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY; 2012’s to MOTHER JONES; and last year we honored JOHN CARLOS FREY and NICK TURSE. Also last year the first I. F. Stone Hall of Fame members, GLENN GREENWALD and JEREMY SCAHILL, were inducted. April 15, 2015 Emerson Suites, Ithaca College The Izzy Award recognizes outstanding achievement in independent media — journalism created outside traditional corporate structures. “Izzy” Stone The award is named after I. F. “Izzy” Stone, the legendary muckraker who for decades exposed government deceit and assaults on civil rights and liberties, notably through I. F. Stone’s Weekly (1953-71). Tonight’s ceremony is dedicated to the great indy journalist Danny Schechter (1942-2015). Naomi Klein David Sirota In 2014 NAOMI KLEIN published her landmark book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, and powerful columns in The Nation and The Guardian on topics from climate change to racism and torture. Maverick investigative journalist DAVID SIROTA published dozens of exposés in 2014 on corruption in our country’s $3 trillion pension system. These abuses hurt taxpayers and government employees while rewarding Wall Street firms that fatten politicians’ campaign coffers. Her work has generated global discussion and debate, with a New York Times reviewer praising the book as “the most momentous and contentious environmental book since [Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 work] Silent Spring.” Klein is also the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. She is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute and board member of 350.org. Of her work last year, the Izzy Award judges commented: “Few journalists today take on the big issues as comprehensively and fearlessly as Klein. She combines rigorous reporting, analysis, history and global scope into a package that not only identifies problems, but also illuminates successful activism and solutions. That goes for her groundbreaking book on climate change and for columns that brilliantly connect the dots – such as the intersection of climate justice and racial justice.” Klein joins us amidst a whirlwind book tour of Europe, where she has met with grassroots and official leaders on climate issues. Later this year a documentary film inspired by This Changes Everything, directed by her husband, Avi Lewis, will launch. It brings Klein’s thesis to life through a connective thread of stories from people living and working on the front lines of change to address our broken political, economic, and environmental systems. Sirota’s dogged reporting on this rarely examined topic, first for PandoDaily and later for International Business Times, shined a critical spotlight on powerful officials of both major parties, from Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The result: mainstream media attention, official investigations, passage of legislation, and government reforms. In one exposé headlined “The Wolf of Sesame Street,” Sirota revealed that New York’s public TV station accepted a $3.5 million donation from a billionaire anti-pension activist to fund coverage of the pension issue. The station was forced to return the money; PBS’s ombudsman wrote of “ethical compromises in funding arrangements” that “nobody really knew until Sirota wrote about it.” The Izzy Award judges wrote: “With his torrential coverage of the pension story, David Sirota shows a remarkable ability to make financial issues clear – clear enough to prompt action by officials and news outlets from coast to coast.” Izzy Award judges are JEFF COHEN, director of the Park Center for Independent Media; LINDA JUE, director and executive editor of the G. W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism; and ROBERT W. McCHESNEY, University of Illinois professor and author.