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A Landmark for Bloggers -- and the Future of Journalism

You probably haven't heard of the George Polk Awards, so read on. This piece reproduced on Alternet, not only explains what the Awards are but also about blogging and journalism generally:

"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, and this year I am especially blown away by the quality of the work they honor.

The winners include Leila Fadel, the Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, a 26-year-old woman who reports from some of the most dangerous regions of Iraq, as well as journalists who peeked under Vice President Cheney's veil of secrecy, toxic river pollution in China, unsafe cribs, infant mortality in Mississippi, the Blackwater scandal, human rights abuses in Burma, healthcare scams, and the courageous work of Oakland's Chauncey Bailey, who was slain as he investigated drug dealers in his hometown.

All these remarkable stories were produced in a year when the very ecomomic model for the news business was under assault, and as business pressures to scale back the kind of original reporting highlighted here continue to rise. These Polk Awards should be a powerful reminder of what society will lose if and when the business model of investigative journalism collapses completely.

But I want to highlight one Polk Award that shows there are emerging models for using the very tool at the root of the turmoil of the news business -- the Internet -- as a newfangled way to re-invent investigative reporting -- by using new techniques that emphasize collaboration over competition and by working with readers and through collective weight of many news sources to expose government misconduct.

It would have seemed incredible a couple of years ago, but a George Polk Award was given to a blogger this year."

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