Postmedia and Ottawa Citizen stories on “Robocalls” win Michener Award
Canada's top journalism prize was awarded tonight to Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen for what the jury for the Michener award called "the detailed and sustained reporting (that) exposed the use of “robocalls” to mislead and harass voters during the 2011 federal election campaign."
Canada's top journalism prize was awarded tonight to Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen for what the jury for the Michener award called "the detailed and sustained reporting (that) exposed the use of “robocalls” to mislead and harass voters during the 2011 federal election campaign."
The jury said the investigation by Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor and Postmedia News columnist Stephen Maher has had a resounding impact by shedding light on "how technology can subvert our most fundamental democratic value: the right to vote in a fairly run election." The reporters have won other awards for their work this year and were nominated for the J-Source Newsperson of the Year Award in January.
The "robocalls" story beat out other nominees: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Société Radio-Canada’s Enquête for reporting into the health risks of asbestos mining; The Coast for an investigation into the (former) Halifax mayor; La Presse for stories into the business of miracle cures in Quebec; The Toronto Star for a series on the challenges of autism in the health sector; and, The Vancouver Sun for following explosions at two sawmills.
Related content on J-Source:
- CBC leads with 30 RTDNA Canada awards, Global comes in second with 10
- Investigative report on teen boot camps wins best feature at PWAC awards
- Veteran journalist and filmmaker Michael Maclear honoured for a lifetime of achievement by CJF
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June 19, 2013
I’m glad that Maher and
I'm glad that Maher and McGregor and the Ottawa Citizen were recognized for the work they did. But can we please stop calling it "robocalls"? Federal justice Richard Mosley ruled it was election fraud. And since many of the fraudulent phone calls were made by humans, calling it "robocalls" is both inaccurate and also imprecise. The only reason media outlets took to calling it "robocalls" was that they didn't wan to get sued or use the rather long version, "allegations of election fraud." But now we know it wasn't just allegations.
Now we know it was, in fact, election fraud. Saying anything less, is just the inertia from the fear of litigation. Or spin.