Whilst perusing Talking Points Memo earlier, I noted that Josh Marshall and company had won the George Polk award. Having never heard of said prize and casually presuming that it was in some sort of blog-specific category, I didn’t bother to click through.
Will Bunch‘s post, “A landmark day for bloggers — and the future of journalism,” highlighted at memeorandum puts it into context.
The George Polk Awards are kind of like the Golden Globes of American journalism . Not as well known as those Oscars of the news business, the Pulitzer Prize, the Polk Awards are nevertheless probably a close second in terms of prestige.
Marshall (with staff reporter-bloggers Paul Kiel and Justin Rood) won the prize for their work in drawing attention to and connecting the dots in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal.
Gawker‘s headline, “Blogger Wins Journalism Award, Printing Presses Spontaneously Combust,” is amusing and has more than a grain of truth. It’s supposed to be the New York Times and the Washington Post getting these awards, not stinkin’ bloggers.
TPM isn’t an ordinary blog, of course, in that Marshall has assembled a full-time staff dedicated to investigating and breaking news. Still, it shows the potential of citizen-journalism.
