MacArthur Foundation Receives Markoff Award from Investigative Reporting Program

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has been honored with the annual Markoff Award from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program (IRP). Kathy Im, director of the Foundation’s Journalism & Media funding arm, Lauren Pabst and Paul Klingenstein accepted the award on its behalf on April 2 at a private reception on the Berkeley campus.

The Markoff is awarded annually at the IRP’s Reva and David Logan Investigative Reporting Symposium. It is given to the philanthropist or foundation that best exemplifies the spirit of New York Times reporter John Markoff, whose stories on tech giant Hewlett-Packard’s board in the late 2000s prompted the company to spy on him to identify his source. After he and The Times sued, HP settled, and John chose to donate the settlement funds to support journalism higher education via the IRP, founded by his former New York Times colleague Lowell Bergman.

The MacArthur Foundation has one of the largest media programs in philanthropy in the country, which “supports the foremost institutions of public service journalism, investigative journalism, and documentary film in the U.S.”

“We are proud to be worthy of the MacArthur Foundation’s support, and applaud their enduring commitment to journalism in the public interest,” said Edward Wasserman, Journalism School Dean.

“The MacArthur Foundation is genuinely honored to receive the Markoff Award from UC Berkeley,” said Kathy Im, director of the Foundation’s Journalism & Media program. “Lowell Bergman’s commitment to public service journalism through the Investigative Reporting Program is extraordinary. We’re proud to support their work, and proud to join the award’s previous recipients with this recognition.”

Former recipients of the Markoff Award include Steve Silberstein; Liz Simons of the Heising-Simons Foundation; George Zimmer, founder of the Men’s Warehouse; Eric Newton of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Herb and Marion Sandler of the Sandler Foundation; brothers Daniel, Richard, and Jonathan Logan of the Reva and David Logan Foundation; Will Hearst of the Hearst Foundation; Ian Isaacs; Glenn Simpson; Lori McGlinchey of the Open Society Foundation; Bob Bishop, and Yossie Hollander.

The award, which is administered by the IRP, features a drawing of Markoff by famed socio-political artist Robbie Conal.