The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College has selected the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) for its annual "Izzy Award," which recognizes outstanding achievement in independent media. CMD was recognized for its ALEC Exposed project, and shares this year's award with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who was recognized for his exceptional reporting from Tahir Square. The award is named for the legendary I.F. Stone, the maverick investigative journalist who challenged Joe McCarthy's scare campaign and was the first to question the Gulf of Tonkin hoax.
CMD's award-winning investigation analyzed over 800 "model" bills secretly voted on by corporate lobbyists and state legislators behind closed doors. CMD launched ALEC Exposed in July 2011, in partnership with The Nation Magazine, which devoted a special edition to articles about ALEC's agenda. The bills are located on CMD's ALECexposed.org site and are accompanied by resources and analysis that illustrate the many ways in which ALEC's influence has permeated nearly every aspect of American life.