This afternoon, the Sidney Hillman Foundation announced that the winner of their coveted 2014 prize for Opinion & Analysis Journalism is Digby, a close friend and part of the trio-- along with John Amato and myself-- behind Blue America. In their own words, "The influential progressive blogger known as Digby has won the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion & Analysis Journalism for her 'incisive commentary on the struggle for economic justice in the U.S.' The award will be presented by the Sidney Hillman Foundation at the annual Hillman Prizes ceremony and reception on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at the Times Center in New York.
Digby writes constantly, engages readers, quotes generously, and exists inside today's 24-hour news cycle with both her fearlessness and her point of view intact. She has been filing daily updates to her Hullabaloo blog since 2002, creating one of the last independent sources for progressive commentary, incisive political analysis and media criticism. She is a daily blogger who is a must-read in the halls of power, among activists and organizers, and by the national media she sometimes criticizes with acerbic accuracy.In many ways, Heather “Digby” Parton is the blogging godmother to a generation of new voices who grew up over the last decade to prominence at major journals, news sites, and on public affairs television. Just say "Digby" to any of hundreds journalists and commentators, and you'll get an appreciative smile.Her blogging name stands for commitment and a consistent point of view. It also stands for both independence (she writes mainly for her own simply-designed blog) and generosity (she links frequently and credits others freely). Together with co-bloggers tristero and David Atkins, she has made Hullabaloo an influential daily read among the political technorati. Yet you will never see her on cable television, and she rarely does conferences. From her perch in a beach cottage in Santa Monica, she writes eloquently on a daily basis about feminism, race, labor, immigration, firearms, the environment, privacy, national security, and criminal justice reform.Digby’s 2013 commentary on economic inequality and the ongoing battle inside Washington on cutting social spending was stoic in defense of both the powerless and the American middle class. She took official Washington to task on behalf of those too often left out of the American Dream. She criticized the political brinksmanship over the Federal budget and examined its real-world victims. She took on both welfare reformers on the left and budget slicers on the right, providing context for a steadily decreasing middle class and more Americans living in poverty, particularly children. Digby chided deficit hawks for ignoring the growing poverty picture, pushed back on Democrats seeking a “grand bargain,” and analyzed how voters sometimes ignore their own economic self-interest.A few years ago, Paul Krugman described Digby as “one of the best writers you’ll ever encounter, on or off the Internet." It’s her sharp rhetorical blade that influences so many other voices, creates a real network of thought, and urges people to action. She has taken on politicians - both Democrats and Republicans - for abandoning the underpinnings of our national promise. And she has turned her often-withering gaze on the Beltway media-- or in Digbyspeak, "the Villagers"-- with razor-sharp media criticism.
The Lithuanian-born Hillman was a revered labor leader, head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, who had been forced to flee the Russian Empire for standing up for workers rights when he was just 20 years old. In Chicago, he helped lead a revolt against the conservative suck-up United Garment Workers and helped start the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America as a pro-worker alternative. Later, Hillman was one of the founders of the American Labor Party, an independent party that served as a kind of halfway house for progressives who wanted to support FDR's reelection but couldn't stomach the Democratic Party, which was as corrupt then as it is today and was still allied with the most reactionary and oppressive white elites in the South. The foundation named for him has been giving annual awards for over 60 years to journalists and writers for work that supports social justice and progressive public policy. It was almost inevitable that they would find Digby. You can check her blog out here.
