Greenhouse, Wheeler and Green Win Major Journalism Prizes

by James Parks, May 14, 2009

Marcy Wheeler

Steven Greenhouse

James Green

One of the few remaining labor writers for a major newspaper, a blogger who writes about the workers’ side of the economic crisis and a labor historian are among the winners of the 2009 Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Awards.

The annual awards were first presented 1950. Now presented in six categories, the Hillman awards are among the most prestigious given to journalists, photographers, writers and public figures whose work fosters social and economic justice. The foundation is named for Hillman, former president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which merged with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO.

The awards will be presented in a May 27 ceremony at the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.

This year’s winners include Marcy Wheeler, who writes the emptywheel blog on firedoglake.com. Wheeler consistently demonstrates the investigative skills that show what bloggers and those using online tools are uniquely capable of doing. Her keen appreciation to detail and strong empathy with working people shows in her blogs and other writing.

In its description of Wheeler, the Hillman Foundation notes that she has “produced outstanding coverage of the American auto industry crisis.”

Combining her background in the industry with a deep commitment to American workers, her depth of analysis was unrivaled.

Wheeler recently made the front page of The New York Times after she became the first person to notice that a newly released Justice Department memo revealed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times in one month. Her live blogging from the Scooter Libby trial in 2007 is widely regarded as one of the seminal moments in online journalism, the foundation says.

Her fans and supporters recently set a goal to raise $150,000 to allow Wheeler to blog full-time and also to support another investigative blogger to work with her and a researcher to help them. Click here to donate to the fund.

Another friend of workers, Steven Greenhouse, the labor and workplace reporter for The New York Times is the co-winner of the book award for his book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. In a Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, Greenhouse said the title exemplifies what is happening to America’s workers.

I really feel there’s a squeeze on workers. In many ways, corporate America is clamping down on its workers. Wages have been cut over the past few years. We’ve seen health benefits get worse. Middle-class Americans have health insurance while the typical worker has to pay twice as much for health insurance as was the case seven years ago.

The best way to loosen the squeeze, Greenhouse says, is to focus on rebuilding our middle class.

The United States should try its darndest to create good middle-class jobs. We need to focus far more on reinvigorating manufacturing. We’ve lost one in five manufacturing jobs since 2000, more than 2.5 million good jobs that paid middle-class wages and benefits.

Read the entire column here.

James Green, professor of history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, will receive the Sol Stetin Award for Labor History. The award is named for the past president of the Textile Workers and founder of the American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark. The Hillman Foundation says Green “has devoted his professional life to writing the history of working people for working people.”

The clear, persuasive analysis and careful research that have characterized his books, articles, classes, films and other public presentations have made him an outstanding teacher in classrooms, union halls, and historical organizations in America and abroad.  

Other Hillman winners are Carol Guzy for photo, Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo for broadcast, The Nation for magazine, Nina Bernstein for newspaper reporting and Jane Mayer for books. Click here to learn more about the Hillman Foundation journalism prizes.

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