Kudos a bit late for Knight Ridder Washington Bureau

John Walcott wins the first I.F. Stone Medal
John Walcott, Washington bureau chief of the McClatchy Co, is the first recipient of the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. Walcott is being honored for leading his team of reporters in their probing, skeptical coverage of events during the run-up to the Iraq war at a time when most U.S. news organizations failed to question the motives and rationale for the invasion of Iraq.

Established earlier this year, the I.F Stone Medal recognizes 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 the Nieman Watchdog Project and will be 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.

In 2002, Walcott, then Knight Ridder Washington, D.C., bureau chief, and two of his top reporters, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, produced dozens of stories that refuted the Bush administration’s claims about the need for war and exposed the serious reservations many intelligence, Foreign Service and military officers had about the rush to invade Iraq. [Click here to review some of the stories.]

The Knight Ridder chain was sold to the McClatchy Company in 2006. Walcott is now McClatchy’s Washington bureau chief; Landay and Strobel are senior correspondents.

In announcing the award, Nieman Curator Bob Giles said “This is belated recognition of the powerful work done by Walcott in directing his colleagues in developing stories that were unappreciated and almost totally unnoticed at the time. Because so many journalists fell short in their pre-Iraq war coverage, there’s a real need to recognize this dogged editor who went about his business in a resolute way to challenge many of the justifications for the war that proved to be false.” [Giles is a former Beacon Journal managing editor and executive editor.]

The 2008 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 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Roger Wilkins and award-wining journalist, novelist and author Patricia O’Brien. They made their selection from recommendations presented by anonymous nominators, all distinguished journalists.