Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award

honoring

Dana Loesch and

Sharyl Attkisson

February 9, 2012Marriott Wardman Park

Washington, DC

About the Awards

The Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award was established in 2005 to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to the practice of journalism in the tradition of Reed Irvine—America’s original media watchdog—by independently covering and reporting on news that was misre ported or ignored by the mainstream press.

Past winners of the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award include:Tucker Carlson, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Caller, which has inspired many grassroots activists; Ken Timmerman, investigative journalist for his three decades fearlessly covering national security and terrorism issues; Andrew Breitbart Publisher of Breitbart.com, Breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Big Journalism for his groundbreaking investigation into rampant corruption at ACORN; Marc Morano, Executive Editor for ClimateDepot.com for his excellent reporting on the ClimateGate scandal; Michelle Malkin, for her reporting on illegal immigration; M. Stanton Evans, for his research on Joe McCarthy; Karl S. Denninger, for expos ing the true cost of bailouts and stimulus measures; Dr. Lee Edwards, for his work exposing the death toll of communism; PatriotPost.us pub lisher Mark Alexander, for exposing the media’s use of polls to influ ence public opinion; and FreeRepublic.com bloggers Harry MacDougald and Paul Boley, for exposing the “Rathergate” documents as forgeries, forcing an apology from CBS and Dan Rather.

Program Welcome

“Reed Irvine’s Legacy”

Wes Vernon, Veteran Journalist Cliff Kincaid Director, AIM Center for Investigative

Journalism

“Grassroots Media Achievement” Don Irvine, AIM Chairman

Presentation of Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award

for Grassroots Journalism to Dana Loesch

Remarks by Dana Loesch

“Investigative Journalism Achievement”Roger Aronoff, AIM Editor

Presentation of Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award for Investigative Journalism to Sharyl Attkisson

Remarks by Sharyl Attkisson

Q/A Session with Award Winners

Presentation of Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Lifetime Achievement Award to Capt. Charlie Rozier (USN Ret.)

Video Presentation“Charles Rozier: An American Hero”

Q/A Session with Capt. Rozier

About the Recipients

Dana Loesch

Dana Loesch is the recipient of the 2012 Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award for Grassroots Journalism. Loesch is the Editor-in-Chief of Big Journalism, a regular CNN contributor and host of the St. Louis-based The Dana Show: The Conservative Alternative on WIBC 93.1 FM. After frequent appearances on Fox News, CBS, ABC, CNN and HBO’s

Real Time, CNN hired Dana as a political contributor in February of 2011. Loesch, the mother of two boys, began blogging after the 9/11 attacks and rose to become one of the highest rated commentators online, according to Nielsen. She serves on the leadership team for the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, and was a co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party. Dana and her family live in St. Louis.

Sharyl Attkisson

Sharyl Attkisson is the recipient of the 2012 Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award for Investigative Journalism. Attkisson was named CBS News’ investigative correspondent in August 2007. She received an Investigative Emmy Award in 2009 for “Outstanding Investigative Reporting of a Business News Story” on TARP and subsequent bank bailouts.

Recently, Attkisson led CBS investigations into Solyndra, SpectraWatt, Beacon Power and additional Department of Energy loan guarantees. One of the few journalists to have flown in a B-52 on a combat mission in Kosovo, she also flew in an F-15 fighter jet Combat Air Patrol flight. Sharyl graduated from the University of Florida in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Attkisson earned a third-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo and resides in the Washington, D.C. area with her family.

About the Recipients

Captain Charles Rozier (USN Ret.)

Reed Irvine Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to his country, and to AIM.

Charles Rozier is an uncommon American hero. He grew up in Sparta, Georgia, and head-ed to the U.S. Naval Academy. When the U.S. entered the Second World War, Charlie came out of the Academy early and began his career in the Navy. As he rose through the ranks, Charlie took part in D-Day, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He later commanded the ship that surfaced a nuclear armed Soviet submarine during the Cuban missile crisis, and later com-manded a fleet of 10 ships.

Following a second career as an engineer in the private sector, still working for the defense of America, Charlie approached Accuracy in Media’s Reed Irvine in 1997, having studied the work Reed had done in exposing an often corrupt and biased news media. He came on board as a volunteer at AIM that year, and has been an integral part of AIM ever since, heading up the Speaker’s Bureau, serving as an invaluable proofreader, and just being present as a great source of strength and wisdom.

Charlie’s family has been steeped in music. His wife Clair attended Julliard, has played and taught music for many years, and continues to this day. Charlie still sings with the Ingleside Singers. Together they have three won-derful children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Charlie, at 91 years of age, still drives himself to AIM’s office several times a week to look after his responsibilities, and provide inspiration to the rest of us at AIM. Thank you, Charlie.

History of AIM

Accuracy in Media was founded in 1969 by a group of concerned citizens. Led by economist Reed Irvine, they were troubled by the inaccuracies and one-sidedness they saw in the American media. Frustrated by the media’s unwillingness to address their individual concerns, they banded together to form Accuracy in Media, hoping that an organization would have more clout than individuals in getting the media to correct serious errors.

AIM began by sending letters to newspaper editors asking for corrections. If a newspaper refused to correct the error or print the letter, AIM bought advertising space in the paper to print the correction. In 1972, Accuracy in Media started publishing the AIM Report, a newsletter dedicated to cor-recting serious media errors. AIM began purchasing stock in major media corporations in 1975, which enabled its representatives to attend annual shareholder meetings, and ask executives to resolve issues with their com-panies’ reporting. In an unprecedented victory in 1984, AIM persuaded PBS to air a documentary it produced challenging the network’s coverage of the Vietnam War.

AIM has built on these methods over the years, publishing countless ar-ticles, books, pamphlets, advertisements, documentaries, special reports, and commentaries; holding rallies, protests, and special events; and finding creative ways to draw attention to the issue of media bias and inaccuracy.

Originally a tiny all-volunteer group, Accuracy in Media has grown into an influential organization with several full-time media analysts and thou-sands of supporters. AIM has enjoyed great success in exposing and correct-ing errors, educating the public to become intelligent news consumers, and convincing media organizations to address errors they have made.

Biography of Reed Irvine (1922 - 2004)

Reed Irvine, noted journalist, media critic, and a leading authority on media bias, began the work that would become his legacy, in his late forties.

The founder and longtime chairman of Accuracy in Media and its sister organiza tion, Accuracy in Academia, Mr. Irvine was an economist, Fulbright scholar and for mer Federal Reserve official who served in the Pacific in World War II as a Japanese language officer with the 2nd Marine Division. He launched Accuracy in Media (AIM) in 1969 and its sister organization, Accuracy in Academia, in 1985.

Mr. Irvine pioneered the concept of a citizens’ media watchdog organization that criticized the errors and omissions of the mainstream press, buying ads to publicize serious errors and buying stock in media companies to enable AIM representatives to attend their annual meetings to discuss their complaints with their chairmen.

By publicizing and exposing the media’s misreporting through the AIM Report newsletter, weekly columns and daily radio broadcasts, Reed Irvine challenged America’s largest and most influential journalists and media companies to account for their errors, eliminate bias in their reporting and stick to the facts. In a move well ahead of its time, he also encouraged the AIM membership to take a pro-ac tive role in keeping the media’s feet to the fire by sending postcards to offending journalists and big media companies.

Over the years, Mr. Irvine became nothing short of a hero to his many thousands of supporters for his courageous and steadfast positions based on the pursuit of factual information.

One of Mr. Irvine’s best known clashes with media titans was one in 1978 that re sulted in then-Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee sending him a letter calling him a “miserable, carping retromingent vigilante,” adding that “I, for one, am sick of wasting my time in communication with you.” Mr. Irvine proudly displayed the letter on his conference room wall, along with scores of awards and plaques for service to his country and its citizens.

After more than three decades of publicizing and exposing some of the most sig nificant misreported stories, Reed Irvine never claimed that he was single-hand edly responsible for educating the media consuming public about biased and slanted news coverage. But the fact that 2/3 to 3/4 of current media survey respondents say they distrust the information from the mainstream press is certainly no coincidence.

“In 1969, when Reed Irvine began his crusade, most Americans trusted the main stream media. … Today, the liberal bias in media, Hollywood, and academia is widely accepted as a fact of life.”

-Senator Jeff Sessions(R-AL)

“Reed Irvine didn’t just criticize the media, he often did the investigative report ing they refused to do.”

-Joseph Farah, World Net Daily Editor

“My friend Reed Irvine has led AIM in its relentless efforts to keep the printed and electronic mediums in check.”

-Ronald Reagan

“For the first time … the leftist media has real conservative competition … Among the many … responsible for this victory, none is more so than Reed Irvine.”

-David Horowitz, Front Page Magazine Editor-in-Chief

“No one has done more to serve the cause of truth and accuracy in American journalism than Reed and the organization he created.”

-Eric Breindel, Former New York Post Editorial Page Editor

Contact info: Accuracy in Media (202) 364-4401 www.aim.org info@aim.org