Last Exit interviews Celia Farber

And in terms of me and the media, I guess I’m looking at the media and saying, you are not exactly in great shape, are you? I might be in better shape than you. Because of this bullshit, because they have not spoken to people. They formed this tower for themselves and really just didn’t pay attention to what was happening on the street among actual people in a very long time.

— Celia Farber, from her interview in Last Exit magazine

Celia Farber has been an investigative journalist for two decades and her cutting edge reports on the AIDS epidemic have been published in Harper’s magazine and Spin. She is also the author of Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS.

Because she failed to toe the party line, Farber has been ridiculed and suffered indignities as the AIDS establishment has attempted to discredit her. Now, she says it’s time for her to move on with her life and to let others carry on that fight.

I sensed this change coming in Celia’s recent posts about the death of AIDS dissident Christine Maggiore. These were not her usual hard hitting investigative reports, but rather personal–spiritual even–testimonies about what her friendship with Christine meant. Maggiore’s death hit many us hard. It is the reason I’m now blogging. Apparently it was also one of the catalysts that finally provoked Farber to move on to a new stage and new direction in her life.

In a recent interview, Celia reflects on her career, as well as the state of investigative journalism and the role of the Internet in performing that role in the future. She offers a unique perspective of her industry from the inside. More importantly, Celia opens up about the personal impact controversy has had on her life. There’s also a link to her new website The Truth Barrier (still under construction).

The interview is published by Last Exit, a promising new website I hadn’t visited before, but have now added to my RSS feed so I know when new content is posted.

Check it out.

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