It may be hard for readers of newspapers other than The Wall Street Journal to believe, but there really is a segment of the professional journalism community that believes in free enterprise. Each year, for the past 10 years, they have been coming together from all over the world to honor the best among them at the annual Bastiat dinner in New York, sponsored by the International Policy Network.
Recently renamed the Bastiat-Hoiles Dinner after generous donors added a Hoiles Prize for excellence in U.S. Journalism, the event is a veritable who's who of journalists, editors, and publishers from media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, National Review, Reason Magazine, RealClearPolitics, and The American Spectator. The conclave was even attended by a professor from Columbia's Journalism school, though it took some prodding to get him to reveal his affiliation.
The $50,000 Bastiat Prize is named for the 19th century French writer and economist Frédéric Bastiat, best known for his satirical Candlestick Makers' Petition ridiculing protectionism as well as his Seen and Unseen critiques of government efforts to create jobs and encourage industry by robbing Peter to pay Paul. Both are as relevant today as when first penned, because, unfortunately, they are equally ignored by those eager to use the power of their office to buy the votes required to keep them there.
The $10,000 Hoiles Prize is named in honor of 20th century publisher and editor R.C. Hoiles, who founded and ran a chain of U.S. newspapers - appropriately named the Freedom Newspapers - known for the fearless free market bent of their editorial pages. After being vilified by many contemporaries, Hoiles earned the respect of history for his impassioned defense of Japanese Americans whose property was stolen when they were interned on the orders of Franklin Roosevelt during the Second World War.
Yours truly was invited to attend, having earned a slot as a finalist for the Hoiles Prize, alas coming home empty handed though reinvigorated knowing that he is not a member of an endangered species.
Bill Frezza is a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and a Boston-based venture capitalist. He can be reached at bill@vereverus.com. If you would like to subscribe to his weekly column, drop a note to publisher@vereverus.com or follow him on Twitter @BillFrezza.
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