On Sunday, our site in Minnesota — the Minnesota Monitor — was renamed the Minnesota Independent. The new site has an enhanced platform for audio and video, social-media tools for getting the word out and commenting that allows readers to have their say on that site as well as all the others in the Center for Independent Media network. Please check out our new look.
And in other Minnesota news… The Minnesota Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will be honoring the Minnesota Independent (formerly Minnesota Monitor) with three awards at its June 12 banquet, including one for best independent website. Rankings for the 2008 Page One Awards won’t be announced before the event, but Minnesota Monitor is placing for “Best Web Site (Independent)” as well as best independent online news story for Paul Schmelzer’s news analysis piece, “Annarama! Anna Nicole Smith and the Experience Newspaper.” And former senior fellow Eric Black won a “best independent newsroom” award for his first-rate coverage at Minnesota Monitor of last year’s scandal and eventual resignation in the office of Minnesota’s US Attorney Rachel Paulose.
Best,
David Bennehum, CEO
Spencer Ackerman covered the visit of two Iraqi parliamentarians to call for U.S. withdrawal, a story that many news organizations ignored.
David Axe expanded his probe into the military’s use of social networking sites with an investigation into the U.S. Coast Guard publishing phony blog posts about fictional at-sea rescues to bolster its image online.
Matthew Blake, meanwhile, exposed conflicts of interest and growing partisanship in the newly re-staffed Federal Elections Commission, and looked into whether the Bush administration has stacked it with members sympathetic to John McCain -or at least willing to look the other way on his fast-and-loose campaign-finance plans.
Suemedha Sood investigated one of America’s most serious, but least understood, ecological threats — the mysterious, widespread disappearance of honeybees — and its potential effects on the nation’s economy and food supply.
TCI proved this week that it commands the respect not only of its colleagues but also of its competitors. CIM Fellow Wendy Norris reported that, at a panel on technology and political reporting hosted by PRNewswire in Denver, Chuck Plunkett of The Denver Post and Adam Schrager of 9News, Denver’s NBC affiliate, “were effusive in their praise” of TCI’s coverage of the upcoming Democratic National Committee (DNC) convention. Case in point: Erin Rosa this week exposed Denver’s serious lag behind St. Paul in its disclosure of security plans for the upcoming political convention. New Mexico Independent also picked up this story.
The local praise for the Independent represents no small compliment, considering the source: Plunkett went after The Center for Independent Media (CIM) in one of his columns last summer, and Schrager had a hand in a recent campaign to keep nonprofits like TCI from obtaining state Capitol press credentials.
Rosa also outpaced the Rocky Mountain News in her coverage of the meteoric rise and fall of a challenge to plans to expand a for-profit immigration detention center in Aurora.
MICHIGAN MESSENGER
No one else in the mainstream press had Eartha Jane Melzer’s exclusive news that Nestle is petitioning to drill under miles of Michigan wetlands to extract water for its Ice Mountain bottled water brand.
She was also alone in reporting on the last, and somewhat ominous, testimony in the case of a controversial sulfide mine proposed in the Upper Peninsula, which a company expert acknowledged had no remediation plan intended to last for the long term.
Paul Demko blanketed the DFL convention with stories on DNC Chair Howard Dean’s speech, the debate between comedian Al Franken and professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, and Franken’s nomination as the party’s U.S. Senate candidate.
Chris Steller outflanked both the Pioneer Press and the Star-Tribune with his exclusive on a country club that is illegally draining its dirty pool water into Lake Calhoun.
Tom Elko, meanwhile, compiled compelling audio from an interview with Josh Silver, at the National Conference on Media Reform held in Minneapolis, which includes a shout-out to Minnesota Independent.
Lynda Waddington pressed on with the most aggressive coverage out there on last month’s immigration raid in Postville. This week, she offered an exclusive interview with the town’s mayor who says the town will need years to recover and a profile of St. Bridget’s, a small church that took in more than 400 wives and children of detained workers after the feds’ sweep.
Political reporter Jason Hancock continued his strong debut with his scoop that William Meyers, who placed third in the Democratic primary in the 4th Congressional District, is continuing his bid for office as an independent. This has been a closely watched issue in the local blogosphere.
NEW MEXICO INDEPENDENT (NMI)
In perhaps the most crucial week of the primary season, NMI rose to the occasion with a suite of stories that put both local and national races in context.
Heath Haussamen got New Mexico’s most famously undecided superdelegate, Congressman Tom Udall, on record endorsing Obama in an interview.
John Arnold showed more mastery of multimedia with his coverage of Ben Ray Lujan’s victory in the 3rd Congressional District. The text addressed both Lujan’s win and the general election ahead, and his video of Lujan’s primary-night event in Santa Fe delivered footage with a handsome opening bumper and a watermarked logo that reinforced the NMI brand.
Barbara Armijo, meanwhile, made sense of Linda Lopez’s unlikely retention of her state Senate seat, talking to her about how she survived the anti-incumbent groundswell - without the support of Bill Richardson.
DEPARTMENT OF GOOD NEWS
‘Shattered’ but ‘Strengthened,’ Postville Church Continues Caring for Those Affected by the Raid - Lynda Waddington, Iowa Independent
Good Night for Women Candidates in Iowa - John Deeth, Iowa Independent
Green jobs coming to Albuquerque - Marjorie Childress, New Mexico Independent
Truckers and cops says Norwegian AutoSock will rock - David O. Williams, Colorado Independent