Blogger Scoops Reporting Award

A political blogger has won an award recognising excellence in investigative journalism.

Josh Marshall has become the first blogger to receive a prestigious George Polk Award for his investigations into the dismissals of two attorneys in the US.

According to the awards body, Marshall’s Talking Points Memo (TPM) and TPMmuckraker blogs “led the news media in coverage of the politically motivated dismissals of United States attorneys across the country”.

In addition, it notes that “Marshall’s tenacious investigative reporting sparked interest by the traditional news media” and led to the resignation of the attorney general.

TPM and TPMmuckraker are part of Marshall’s TPM Media, which employs two staff reporter-bloggers.

Handed out by Long Island University in Brooklyn, the George Polk Awards were founded in 1949 and claim to be among the most coveted journalism prizes in the US.