Award Named for Fantastic Forum Panelist Martin Bosworth

In February 2012, The Media Policy Center, a Santa Monica non-profit, announced establishment of the Martin H. Bosworth Award for Consumer Journalism, an award to be given annually to the individual or organization whose work in the preceding year best exemplifies consumer-centered news reporting.

The award is funded by a grant from James R. Hood, the founder and editor of the consumer Web site.

Martin, a panelist who appeared during the first two seasons of FANTASTIC FORUM worked as a freelance reporter prior to being named Managing Editor for ConsumerAffairs. He relocated from Washington, DC to Los Angeles in 2009 to lead the transfer of the website's editorial operations.

“Martin was a tireless and fearless crusader for the everyday consumer. His outstanding work benefited millions of individuals and lives on to this day in ConsumerAffairs' reporting and consumer empowerment efforts,” Hood said. “He was a big guy with a big voice and consumers lost a real champion when he was taken from us long before his time.”

One of the first peer review sites on the Web, ConsumerAffairs, founded in 1998, publishes consumer reviews that empower consumers to collaboratively find the products and services that best suit their needs and helps them identify shoddy practices and outright scams. Its news reports deal with automotive, personal finance, health, travel and other consumer issues.

The Media Policy Center addresses issues of social welfare, public policy, education, the environment, and health care. Its primary goal is to inform, challenge, and ultimately engage a responsive citizenry and to encourage full and meaningful debate and participation across the political, social, and economic spectrum.

Media Policy Center co-CEOs Harry Wiland and Dale Bell said the first Bosworth award will be presented in February 2013. This award is a most fitting tribute to a man who was a dedicated crusader for social justice.