Awarding Amy Goodman the "I.F. Stone Peacemaking Award for excellence in Journalism"
April 21, 2007
It was a great honor for The Peace Museum to present Amy Goodman from "Democracy Now" with The Peace Museum's first ever I.F. Stone Peacemaking Award for excellence in Journalism. This award was a tribute to Amy's contributions to peace and social justice. We, as an organization have great respect for the work that she has committed her life to, as it is also part of our mission to give an uncensored voice to the voiceless and to the ignored through public exhibitions.
I.F. Stone was an icon in the field of Investigative Journalism. Over the course of his lifetime, he became an uncensored critic of everything that was truly Un-American in this country despite the public challenges to his patriotism. He dared to confront McCarthyism, racial discrimination, and the war in Vietnam through his own publication, I.F. Stone's Weekly –a hallmark of free press.
There have been few journalists who have had the courage to fill the void that was left behind in the field of investigative journalism following the death of I.F. Stone. But, Amy Goodman is indeed one of those rare voices.
The statements below are remarks from two people (who knew I.F. Stone better than most) upon learning that Amy Goodman would become the first recipient of this award from The Peace Museum.
I.F. Stone' daugther, Celia Gilbert:
"My father fought all his life for a free press and he believed in the power of words to make the world a better place. Amy Goodman stands in a long line of fighters in that tradition and I know my father, if he were alive in these most troubling of times, would be happy to salute her work."
I.F. Stone's granddaughter, Kate Gilbert:
"Every age needs its I.F. Stone. There will never come a time that we don't need fearless investigators, journalists, writers, artists, troubadours, philosophers and critics to inform and enthrall us, to challenge and expose the powerful and corrupt. The Peace Museum's choice of Amy Goodman to receive the I.F. Stone Award wonderfully reminds us that the fighters we need are out there, working, all the time. Sometimes the country isn't ready to hear what they have to say and they toil without recognition but sometimes they are able to lead and slowly bring the country around to a new understanding of what is going on. Amy Goodman's work embodies not only the fearless, reportorial side of I.F. Stone's work but also the quiet, determined, persistence."