The I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence

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The third annual I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence was presented to investigative reporter Craig R. McCoy from The Philadelphia Inquirer on October 5, 2010. McCoy was honored for exposing injustice and America would be a more just, less corrupt country if every city had a Craig McCoy. Unfortunately, such journalists are rare.corruption in Philadelphia during the past three decades through his meticulous research and reporting.

In recommending McCoy for the I.F. Stone Medal, his nominator noted: “There are several things about Craig that bring to mind I.F. Stone. He is undaunted by a complex story. He has a strong sense of civic right and wrong. He is ingenious at penetrating the official fog. And he is very, very persistent…America would be a more just, less corrupt country if every city had a Craig McCoy. Unfortunately, such journalists are rare.”

The 2010 I.F. Stone award ceremony was held in conjunction with Boston University’s College of Communication and included a question and answer session with BU journalism students asking McCoy about his work. Graduate student James Robinson was chosen as winner of a student essay competition on the meaning of journalistic independence.

The 2010 I.F. Stone Medal Selection Committee was chaired by journalist and author John R. (Rick) MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper’s Magazine. The committee also included Robert Kaiser, associate editor and senior correspondent for The Washington Post, and Patricia O’Brien, a journalist, novelist and author who was a 1974 Nieman Fellow.

Established in 2008, the I.F. Stone Medal rewards journalistic independence and honors the life of investigative journalist I.F. Stone. The award is administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and its Nieman Watchdog Project and is presented annually to a journalist whose work captures the spirit of independence, integrity and courage that characterized I.F. Stone’s Weekly, published 1953-1971.

More information about I.F. Stone’s life and work and the medal created in his honor can be found online at www.ifstone.org.