The Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College is honored to announce that this year’s Izzy Award “for outstanding achievement in independent media” will be shared by two journalists and two outlets that undertook path-breaking and in-depth reporting in 2024. The Izzy Award is named after I. F. “Izzy” Stone, the muckraking journalist who launched I.F. Stone’s Weekly in 1953 and challenged McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, racial injustice, and government deceit.

Steve Mellon (Pittsburgh Union Progress) and Maximillian Alvarez (The Real News Network) collaborated on stories regarding East Palestine, Ohio to expose the toxic environment harming residents long after the 2023 train derailment; Jewish Currents provided in-depth coverage of Gaza and the related injustices, inequalities, and threats to democracy posed abroad and here at home; and the San Francisco Public Press investigated how the U.S. Navy conducted unethical radiation experiments on the public for years without their knowledge.

The presentation of the Izzy Award will take place on Wednesday, April 30, at 7 P.M. in Emerson Suites at Ithaca College. The event will be recorded and is free and open to the public.

Contact mhuff2@ithaca.edu or msutherland1@ithaca.edu at PCIM for interviews or other queries. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodation, please contact Marcy Sutherland, 607-882-4975 or msutherland1@ithaca.edu, as much as in advance as possible. For more information on the Park Center for Independent Media, visit parkindymedia.org/ and ithaca.edu/indy.