Kudos for -The Dark Side- , Bob Herbert and the film "Torturing Democracy"

Paraphrased from Scott Horton's "No Comment" at Harper's Magazine online (tense changed - a few items added...

Jane Mayer was honored (Thursday, April 16) the 2009 Ridenhour Book Prize - for her definitive account of the Bush Administration’s descent into torture. (-The Dark Side-)

The award ceremony was noon at the National Press Club in Washington, and Scott Horton offered a brief tribute to Jane on this occasion.

Other Ridenhour Prize recipients included Bob Herbert (Prize for Courage)-New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert has been awarded The Ridenhour Courage Prize in recognition of the overall distinction and fearless truth-telling of his reporting. Whether he is exposing abuses of power, complacency in the face of urgent need or the enduring racial divide, Herbert's columns form the moral center of American journalism. (And by the way, he did a series of signature articles on Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, who was detained by the US, held in Syria in a grave-like cell for roughly a year and eventually freed by Canada - Arar just so happened to be on the cover of Times magazine in Canada for winning a suit the same time Bush was on the cover of Times magazine US edition back home - really well-worth reading these in light of recent Torture Memo revelations.

SEE BOB HERBERT'S CLASSIC ARTICLES ON TORTURE here

Also a recipient, former Justice Department lawyer Thomas Tamm (Prize for Truth-Telling --really worth reading about - yet quite new to this blogger at oneheartforpeace), and Nick Turse (Prize for Reportorial Distinction - very new to blogger here).

N.W.Sherry Jones won this year’s RFK Award for domestic journalism for her superlative documentary ( "Torturing Democracy" )which PBS was reluctant to show before Bush left office.

From the announcement: In this documentary, meticulous reporting unravels the inside story of how torture was adopted by the U.S. government as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. With exclusive interviews, explosive documents and rare archival footage, the documentary has been called the definitive broadcast account of a deeply troubling chapter in recent American history.

More info on “Torturing Democracy” and how to order the film is available here