The Pittsburgh Union Progress’ Steve Mellon has for more than two years been covering the story of the derailment and burn-off and then the fallout from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, with great skill and a big heart.
Now he’s sharing the 17th Annual Izzy Award with fellow independent journalist Maximillian Alvarez of The Real News Network, as well as outlets Jewish Currents and the San Francisco Public Press.
The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College in New York announced this year’s Izzy Award “for outstanding achievement in independent media” Monday.
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.
A release from PCIM wrote that Mellon and Alvarez “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.”
According to the release, “While corporate media covered the catastrophe in East Palestine, Ohio, with aerial views of ruined train cars and plumes of smoke likening the horrific crash to a disaster film, Steve Mellon of the Pittsburgh Union Progress and Maximillian Alvarez of The Real News Network were on the ground telling the stories of people in the communities devastated by the deadly toxins released into their neighborhoods long after major media outlets left them behind. One of this year’s judges remarked, ‘Mellon and Alvarez know how to report compellingly about people and their struggles, offering a perspective on storytelling rarely seen in the establishment press.’
“The short documentary produced by The Real News Network [“Trainwreck in ‘Trump Country’: Partisan Politics Haven’t Helped East Palestine, OH”] features heart-wrenching testimonials of illness and medical bills, and the mobilization of community members to hold the government and railway industry accountable. The judges remarked, ‘No stranger to the ways and means to fight for justice, as Mellon digs into the human story, he ties it to the essential work of local journalism and the need to spend time with the people most affected, documenting their ongoing struggle as they come together to demand basic human rights.’ In these stories we see ways to build trust across political divides and come together united as a community.”
The release also noted, “In article after article, Jewish Currents’ writers have dissected the stoking of Jewish victimhood and the weaponization of antisemitism.
“They have fearlessly chronicled the wave of repression against U.S. supporters of Palestinian rights. And they have offered searing essays evoking the slaughter in Gaza, such as Sarah Aziza’s ‘The Work of Witness,’ which describes the agony of watching Gaza’s citizen journalists as they ‘confront a world in which their genocide garners millions of witnesses and yet continues apace.’ The judges said this nearly 80-year-old publication, relaunched in 2018, ‘has proved an essential counterpoint to a restrictive, even repressive, public conversation about Jewish politics, culture and identity. Jewish Currents’ frank and critical coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza — and its repercussions in the United States — recalls the best of I.F. Stone.’ “
Further, “An eight-part multimedia investigative series by the San Francisco Public Press, ‘Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,’ exemplifies the in-depth, social justice-driven, investigative journalism for which I.F. Stone is celebrated. The story uncovers how the U.S. Navy conducted unethical and dangerous radiation experiments at the San Francisco Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1946 to 1963 on at least 1,073 people without their informed consent. The investigative team’s reporting was based on painstaking research, including years spent piecing together 24 distinct studies by combing through 621 linear feet of records at the National Archives, filing FOIA requests with federal agencies, and consulting scientific experts to interpret outdated mid-20th-century radiation terminology. Many documents were degraded, incomplete, heavily redacted or reclassified by the government, requiring tremendous effort to acquire and decipher critical evidence.
“The reporting is narrated through multimedia storytelling, featuring a wide range of experts as well as the voices of the marginalized communities most affected, including veterans, people of color and blue-collar workers. The judges commented, ‘In the spirit of Izzy Stone, the journalists’ dogged reporting brought to light a profound injustice and helped galvanize community activism and potential lawsuits. The San Francisco Public Press embodies the very best accountability journalism that we so desperately need today: local, independent, and nonprofit.’ “
This year’s judges included the founder of PCIM and FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) Jeff Cohen, previous PCIM director Raza Rumi, PCIM associate director Todd Schack, investigative journalism editor Esther Kaplan, media policy professor Victor Pickard, former chair of Ithaca College politics department Patricia Rodriguez, and media studies professor emerita Robin Andersen. The nominations and judging process were overseen by current PCIM director Mickey Huff and Marcy Sutherland, PCIM’s communication and research coordinator.
The presentation of the Izzy Award will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, in Emerson Suites at Ithaca College. The event will be recorded and is free and open to the public.
“It’s an honor to win this with Max,” Steve tells The PUP. “I’ve never met anyone more committed to telling the stories of working class people. We were both moved by the struggles of the folks in the East Palestine area. This is a story of a community put in crisis by the recklessness of a large and wealthy corporation. People will be dealing with the toxic fallout for years, wondering if and when they’ll get sick, how their kids will be affected. The mental health challenges alone can be overwhelming. Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern is moving on with its business as if everything is back to normal.”
To read more of Steve’s coverage for our strike “paper,” search “East Palestine” on this site. His latest dispatch: “Rates of PTSD and depression in East Palestine are similar to those found in Flint after water crisis, study shows.”
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
