Markey honored at film festival for 'Gulf Spillcam’

The Hill's Christina Wilkie reports that Rep. Edward Markey (Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, received an award at the Tribeca Film Festival for his efforts to secure a live video feed of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Here's Wilkie:

Tribeca honored Markey’s crusade with a unique award for “Disruptive Innovation,” a term used to describe an advancement that renders its predecessor obsolete.

Spillcam did this for conventional reporting on oil spills: As Americans watched the Deepwater Horizon pipe gushing live on TV, traditional news reports about the spill had to offer viewers more than just numbers of gallons.

Markey’s fellow “Disruptive Innovation” award recipients included rocker Keith Richards, who was honored for his revolutionary open-G guitar tuning, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who helped make traditional encyclopedias obsolete.

The lawmaker attended Tuesday’s ceremony in New York City with his wife, Susan Blumenthal. No word on whether the couple attended any indie films during their visit.

Read the rest of Wilkie's story here.