The Sixth Annual Ridenhour Awards were presented April 16 by the Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation. The awards are presented each year to journalists and whistleblowers in honor of Ron Ridenhour, a former Vietnam veteran who exposed the 1968 massacre at My Lai. The awards are given to those who act to protect the public interest and promote social justice. The 2009 awardees were Thomas Tamm, Bob Herbert, Jane Mayer, and Nick Turse.

Ridenhour, a recipient of the 1987 George Polk Award, led a long and distinguished career as a journalist before passing away in 1998. The awards presented in his name are generally given to top winners in the categories of truth-telling, courage, and authorship. In 2009, an additional prize for reportorial distinction was awarded. A number of past recipients, including Joseph Wilson and Daniel Ellsberg, were in attendance.

Truth-Telling

The award for truth-telling went to former Department of Justice attorney Thomas Tamm. Tamm blew the whistle on the National Security Agency's (NSA) domestic wiretapping program. He had initially brought the issue of questionable legality of the program to his superiors in 2004. After being warned to drop the subject, Tamm proceeded to call The New York Times from a subway pay phone, informing the paper of the NSA program. The Times published the story, and the authors of the article wrote books on the subject.

Tamm suffered revenge from the government as a result of his work to expose the program. He was harassed and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), his house was raided, and his children were subjected to FBI interrogation. Despite the hardships he has faced after revealing the NSA's illegal activities, Tamm has stood strong on the principles that guided his actions. At the awards ceremony, he said, "We are safer, stronger, and more secure when we support the rule of law." From Tamm's experiences, it is evident that whistleblowers still need greater protections under the law.

Courage Prize

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert won the courage award for the overall fearless truth-telling of his reporting. On the eve of the American invasion of Iraq, Herbert stood out from other journalists in one clear way – he opposed the war. In addition to his unpopular but accurate stance on that issue, Herbert has also taken on the problems of poverty and racism in his work.

In his acceptance speech, Herbert dispelled the belief that working men and women had no responsibility for current events. Herbert stressed that despite the commonly held belief to the contrary, ordinary people do have power and great ability to shape policy.

Book Prize

Jane Mayer of The New Yorker won the book prize for her 2008 work, The Dark Side. This extensively researched book connects the extraordinary rendition and torture of detainees captured by U.S. forces to top officials in the Bush administration. Mayer shows how these arguably unconstitutional policies implemented during the "war on terror" actually impeded the fight against Al Qaeda. Despite the protests of top intelligence officials, the Bush administration pushed forward with such policies, which ultimately undermined national security.

Reportorial Distinction

This prize, unique to the 2009 awards, was awarded to Nick Turse for his November 2008 article, "A My Lai a Month." Turse built upon Ridenhour's work to demonstrate that My Lai was not a unique event. Ridenhour had expressed that My Lai was "an operation, not an aberration." Turse, simultaneously filling the roles of historian, journalist, and whistleblower, used records at the National Archives, as well as unpublished interviews with Vietnamese survivors and U.S. military officials, to prove Ridenhour's claim. Turse demonstrated that high-level generals authorized the systematic use of "brute force" in Vietnam instead of the use of discriminate and selective firepower.

Vietnam is still seen by many Americans as a war in which U.S. forces were defending the freedom of the South Vietnamese people, rather than an aggressive assault on North Vietnam. Turse's work teaches us that when records are sealed for generations and abuses of power are effectively hidden for decades, our national memory is altered.

Each of these people is an example of individuals willing to stand up for their country in the face of retribution. They are whistleblowers and journalists seeking to expose abuses of power so that such misconduct is an aberration, not the operative norm.