Uncovering the Story

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Palast?s decision to take up journalism came when he was working for the Chugach natives of Alaska investigating the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which devastated their fishing grounds in Prince William Sound. ?The press had fucked up the story something awful,? he says. ?I de-cided from then on I?d write these stories myself,? an idea encouraged by the Guardian, the Observer, and BBC?s Newsnight.

Palast and his family moved to London in 1997, and now he divides his time between New York and London, though he continues to report almost exclusively for his British employers. He lives in the East Village with his wife, Linda Levy, a ?radical banker? and community organizer, and their 6-year-old twins.

Though he finally took up journalism because ?no one in the media could get the story right,? he doesn?t consider himself an advocate. ?This might sound odd, but I don?t think my job is to bring justice to the world,? he says. ?I think my job is to bring information to the world and then hope that the truth will set us free.?

In addition to the lack of censorship he encounters in Britain, Palast says he enjoys the British style of journalism, which allows him to inject some opinion into his writing. ?Because I?m in Orwell?s old spot [at the Observer newspaper, which employed the author of 1984 and Animal Farm], I feel the ghost is requiring me to write something?as you do in Britain?with some style, meaning you say where you stand. Not like The New York Times, where you pretend you?re objective.?

Leif Utne is the managing editor of Utne Online.

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