Alex Cockburn (1941-2012)

The Political Function of PBS: When Tedium is Totalizing), American liberals’ favorite news oracle, remains the stuff of legend for those who despise self-impressed pseudo journalism—and the faux choice of liberalism itself.

But Alex also deserves our gratitude for being among the first in the postwar left to realize the strategic importance of building a full-fledged critique of corporate media as well as a robust network of radical communications, a task that grows in importance as the darkness closes around us.

His humanity, love of justice, and visceral hatred for hypocrisy and corruption made him an indispensable point of reference on innumerable issues, and while some of us may have disagreed with him on some important subjects, he never lost our respect and affection,  which was his unalterable due.

The world feels smaller without him.

—Patrice Greanville

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ADDENDUM—Obit notice on the Wall Street Journal, of all places

Radical writer Alexander Cockburn dead at 71

NEW YORK — Radical writer Alexander Cockburn, a longtime columnist for The Nation and editor of the political newsletter CounterPunch, died Friday in Germany at age 71.

Cockburn, who lived in recent years in Petrolia, Calif., was known for an acidic pen that spared few on either the left or right for policies that he felt were hypocritical or corrupt.

Cockburn infuriated some liberals by writing skeptically about global warming, and bothered neoconservatives with his ferocious attacks on Israel.

Cockburn disclosed his illness to only a few people.

But his longest affiliation was with The Nation, where Cockburn wrote columns for decades attacking U.S. foreign policy, lambasting the mainstream press and assailing Democrats for not being progressive enough. He also became known for his battles in print with a fellow columnist at The Nation, Christopher Hitchens. He co-founded CounterPunch with St. Clair in 1996.

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