Jane Mayer wins Nieman Foundation’s I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence

Investigative journalist, author and New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer has been selected as winner of the 2013 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard will present the award on Sept. 28, 2013, during the foundation’s 75^th anniversary weekend.

Former Nieman Foundation curator Bill Kovach, chair of the advisory committee that oversees the annual award, said, “Mayer is being recognized for her in-depth investigations of complex issues, the consistently high quality of her writing and her ability to maintain her reportorial independence at a large news organization.”

In making their decision, the judges cited the exceptional caliber of her recent body of work, including her best-selling book “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals.” The book addresses the legal justifications for the use of questionable interrogation techniques – considered by many to be torture – on detainees by the CIA and Department of Defense.

Mayer joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 1995. Based in Washington, D.C., she writes about national security issues, the war on terror, money and influence peddling in politics, culture, ethics and law. Her diverse portfolio includes reporting on George W. Bush, the Koch brothers and the Obama administration’s war on whistle-blowers, among other topics.

The I.F Stone Medal honors the life of investigative journalist I.F. Stone and is presented annually to a journalist whose work captures the spirit of journalistic independence, integrity and courage that characterized I.F. Stone’s Weekly.