Blogging the Izzys

Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman were honored at the inaugural Izzy Awards last night at the State Theater in Ithaca, N.Y.

Organized by the Park Center for Independent Media, the event recognized the two journalists for their "special achievement in independent media," following the legacy of legendary journalist I.F. Stone.


Check out the video introduction for Greenwald I made for the presentation:


Press Release

Greenwald
Greewald began by distinguishing himself from "establishment" journalists, calling himself an independent blogger. In his opinion, Goodman is "the living and breathing embodiment of what journalism should be." He is instead a blogger, and for him there is a distinction between these, establishment journalists and independent journalists. Establishment journalists crank out journalism, even when they are "blogging" for their establishment media organization. Bloggers react to establishment journalism. Independent journalists think in a way contrary to establishment journalists. To demonstrate what an establishment journalist is, Greenwald cited an article by Newsweek's Evan Thomas, in which he reveals:

If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am), reading Krugman makes you uneasy...By definition, establishments believe in propping up the existing order. Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are. Safeguarding the status quo, protecting traditional institutions, can be healthy and useful, stabilizing and reassuring.

This is not the person you want reporting, because the big questions will never be asked [and compared to the questions on torture and war that could be asked, the linked example seems utterly inconsequential]. If the press's role is not exposing lies, what is it?

Greenwald also tackled establishment journalism's secretive nature. Even while railing for governemnt transparency, journalists have a tendancy hide behind corporate facades. This is why all too often establishment news is not "fair and balanced" and why NBC does not do stories on GE.

To be credible, Greenwald stated, a medium must:

1. Keep a distance from the political structure's influence
2. Steer clear of corporate influence.

But, ah, 2 is so difficult. I.F. Stone's Weekly was free of advertisements. Salon is not. So here's the low-down, if you're looking for it. Salon.com uses both banner advertising and page intro ads (which don't appear with a premium membership). Salon is partially owned by Adobe. According to Yahoo Finance, "Adobe Systems founder and Salon Chairman John Warnock holds about 40% of the company's total voting securities." Salon does not present this fact when posting wire-style tech news from the gigaOM network.

Sometimes advertising is needed. When it is used, so too must transparency. Journalists and blogger who do have advertisers must not cater to them. This was perhaps the strongest point of Greenwald's presentation. Independent journalism is not a type of journalism. Journalism should be independent by nature:

If it's not independent, it's not journalism.

Goodman
A Pacifica veteran, Goodman was more at home with the leftist/aging hippie crowd. Most of the names she mentioned garnered applause, even at the most inappropriate moments.

Example (paraphrased):
"That day, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee."
[applause]

They were clapping, of course, for her enthusiasm, but it seemed cheap and misplaced. To everything there is a season. These people were applauding themselves for remembering rather than for agreeing with Goodman's many well-made points.

"We need a media that presents the full spectrum of perspectives," said Goodman. The sources of these perspectives should be identifiable. Mainstream media can be useful if:

• It is unbiased and asks the hard questions

-or-

• It is biased and can be analyzed as such in order to take down a corporation, goverment/official or "news" organization [Greenwald's specialty]

Mainstream media and their parent companies too often silence the majority, said Goodman. There is a "silenced majority" that opposes war and torture, but the mainstream media does not give them a voice, which it should.

Goodman championed Net Neutrality and open airwaves, the channels through which independent media flow. A violation of freedom of the press, she noted, is a violation of your right to know:

Democracy is a messy thing. It's our job to capture it all.

And that is exactly what Goodman and Greenwald are doing. It is important we follow them and that others emerge who will act with the same bravery and tenacity they do.