Media Magazine: 2015 Awards Issue

MEDIATHE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS bull LrsquoASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES JOURNALISTES

2015 AWARDS EDITION bull VOL17 NO 5

TERROR IN OTTAWAThe Halifax Chronicle Heraldrsquos

editorial was a top award-winner in 2015

MEDIA2015 AWARDS EDITION bull VOLUME 17 NUMBER FIVE

2015 AWARDS EDITION 3

Table of contents

EDITOR LEGAL ADVISOR ART DIRECTION and DESIGN

THE CONTRIBUTORS

COVER PHOTO COMPASSIONATE COMRADES COME TO LIFE Cpl Nathan Cirillo a reservist who was guarding the National War Memorial outside the Parliament buildings in Ottawa was shot and killed in a terror attack on Oct 22 2014 that ended in a fatal shoot-out on Parliament Hill PHOTO CREDIT Bruce MacKinnon -- The Chronicle Herald Halifax NS

2 MEDIA

David McKie1-613-290-7380

David McKiePeter Jacobsen BersenasJacobsen Chouest Thomson

Blackburn LL P

Britney Dennison Bruce MacKinnon Charles Rusnell Enza Uda Dave Seglins Jesse McLean John Lehmann Jon Wells Kevin Rollason Kim Bolan Ric Esther Bienstock Shelley Page Stan Behal Teri Pecoskie Jim Coyle Trina Roache

MEDIAA PUBLICATION OF

PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE SCARRED FOR LIFE The black market can expose organ sellers and recipients to sub-standard medical practicePHOTO CREDIT Associated Producers

THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTSLrsquoASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES JOURNALISTES

Page 8 CAJ - DON MCGILLIVRAY AWARD AND COMMUNITY BROADCASTTHE AURA OF POWER CBC Edmontonrsquos Charles Rusnell explains how he and Jennie Russell used freedom-of-information re-quests sources and lots of shoe leather to expose the spending that ultimately forced Alison Redford to resign as premier of Alberta

0 CAJ ndash TEXT FEATURE A FATHERrsquoS WORST NIGHTMARE Amos Mustapha had not seen his teen daughter since wishing her good luck just before her final exam Jesse McLean describes the kidnapping the pain and the hope for a happy ending

Page 12 CAJ ndash OPEN BROADCAST FEATURE TRAFFICKING IN KIDNEYS Ric Esther Bienstock tells the stories of people on both sides of the international kidney trade debate

Page 16 CAJ ndash OPEN BROADCAST NEWS SPEAKING OUT A 21-year-old fast-food worker from BC became the reluctant whistleblower whose story forced McDonalds to change the way it uses temporary foreign workers By Enza Uda

Page 18 CAJ - CWA CANADA CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING EXHAUSTION ON THE RAILS Locomotive operators opened about falling asleep at the controls By Dave Seglins

PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE THE FORGOTTEN MAN Robert Sinclair holds a portrait of his first cousin Brian Sinclair at a news conference Brian Sinclair a disabled aborigi-nal man died in Sept 2008 after waiting 34 hours in the emergency room of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg PHOTO CREDIT WAYNEGLOWACKIWinnipeg Free Press

TABLE OF CONTENTS


2015 AWARDS EDITION bull VOLUME 16 NUMBER FOUR

4 MEDIA

Page 20 CAJ ndash ONLINE MEDIACHARTING CHINArsquoS GREEN REVOLUTION Yoursquod never guess it from the countryrsquos infamous smog-filled cities but green activists are pushing for cleaner air ndash and getting results By Britney Dennison

Page 22 CAJ ndash PHOTOJOURNALISMThe Globe and Mailrsquos John Lehmann explains how a fish bowl allowed him to get up close to spawning salmon

Page 24 CAJ ndash JHR CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTINGTHE JORDANrsquoS PRINCIPLE The policy to treat indigenous disabled children was sorely lacking By Trina Roache

Page 26 NNA ndash EDITORIAL CARTOONING AND JOURNALIST OF THE YEARCOMPASSIONATE COMRADES COME TO L IFE Chronicle Herald editorial cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon looks back at how he sketched the cartoon that captured a compassionate spirit in the aftermath of the fatal attack at the National War Memorial

Page 28 NNA ndash MULTIMEDIA FEATURE AND CAJ MARKETWIRED DATA JOURNALISM AWARD A DEEP DIVE INTO EDUCATION Teri Pecoskie used data to tell stories about student achievment

Page 30 NNA ndash SPORTSTWO TEAMS TWO DREAMS The Toronto Star profiled two hockey teams where the dream of making it to the NHL survives the obscurity heartache ndash and the occasional harrowing road trip By Jim Coyle

Page 32 NNA ndash INVESTIGATIONS AND CAJ OPEN MEDIA CATEGORYPROFILING A KILLER The Hamilton Spectatorrsquos Jon Wells found out what makes one of the cityrsquos most notorious murderers tick ndash and why he sports a tattoo of the word ldquoRemorselessrdquo

Page 34 NNA ndash EXPLANATORY WORKTHE INEXPLICABLE DEATH OF BRIAN SINCLAIR How could someone die in the waiting room of Winnipegrsquos busiest hospital emergency department after waiting 34 hours for treatment The Winnipeg Pressrsquo Kevin Rollason dug for answers

Page 36 NNA ndash BEAT REPORTINGCOVERING THE BAD GUYS The Vancouver Sunrsquos intrepid crime reporter Kim Bolan takes on the cityrsquos gangs ndash and cops Page 38 NNA ndash SHORT FEATUREREMEMBERING POLYTECHNIQUE Former newspaper reporter Shelley Page conducts a postmortem of the original piece she wrote about the Dec 6 1989 shooting of 14 female engineering students Her verdict She got it all wrong

Page 40 NNA ndash SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHYTHE AGONY OF DEFEAT Toronto Sun photographer Stan Behal says the best shots can come from from covering the losers

PHOTOS AT THE TOP REMEMBERING POLYTECHNIQUE (From left the right) Anne-Marie Edward Anne-Marie Lemay Annie St-Arnaud Annie Turcotte Barbara Daigneault Barbara Lkucznik Geneviegraveve Bergeron Helen Colgan Maryse Laganiegravere Maryse Leclair Maud Haviernick Michegravele Richard Nathalie Croteau Sonia Pelletier

PHOTO CREDITS Ecole Polytechnique

Visit online for details about how to apply and enter

michenerawardsca

6 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 7

The First Word

By David McKie

Every year Media magazine devotes an entire issue to award-winners

whose accounts of how they got their sto-ries offer us hope inspiration and practical advice in an age of debilitating cutbacks shrinking news holes and diminishing editorial resources

And once again the contributors who interrupted their busy schedules to share their backstories didnrsquot disappoint

It should also be noted that the winners were chosen from an outstanding roster of finalists who receive shout-outs with links to their stories we encourage you to read

The stories that took the top prizes for the Canadian Association of Journalists and the National Newspaper Awards were noteworthy for many reasons

For instance it was the first time that newspaper judges crowned an editorial cartoon as the National Newspaper Awards Journalist of the Year

The Halifax Chronicle Heraldrsquos Bruce MacKinnon depicted the dramatic after-math of a shooting near Parliament Hill

So letrsquos start with MacKinnonrsquos back-story

Oct 22 2014 started out like any other day for the editorial cartoonist who has plied his trade at the Halifax Chronicle Herald for 29 years

Not partial to crafting cartoons about murder and mayhem his first impulse was to ignore the events making news in the nationrsquos capital

However it soon became clear that the drama was too important to dismiss After consultations with colleagues and last-minute decision-making he settled on an

idea that turned out to be the right call the depiction of fatally wounded honour guard Nathan Cirillo being aided by one of the statutes on the war monument which is also featured on Media maga-zinersquos cover

In this case it is fair to say that MacK-innonrsquos editorial cartoon spoke more loudly than words

But words did speak loudly in news-papers on websites and on television and radio broadcasts telling stories that shaped public policy raised awareness ignited discussions and held politicians to account

When it comes to the latter itrsquos only fit-ting to shift to Alberta

The Canadian Association of Journal-istrsquos overall winners were CBC Edmon-tonrsquos I-unit members Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell for ldquoAura of Powerrdquo an account of the questionable expenses that led to the downfall of former Alberta Premier Alison Redford

The dynamic duo uses old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting fuelled by provin-cial freedom-of-information requests to break stories like ldquoSkypalacerdquo that ap-peared on television radio and online

ldquoAt any given time we have about 150 active requestsrdquo explains Rusnell in his write-up on page eight

ldquoIn the case of Skypalace our source told us to request the communications between Redfordrsquos executive assistant and the architect responsible for the penthouse

We filed six separate requests to two departments which yielded the documents that underpinned the story and made it

irrefutablerdquoAlso refutable is the controversy over

organ donations and the desperation that sets in among individuals whose very lives depend on finding a new kidney to replace the old one

ldquoTales from the Organ Traderdquo explored grey and uncertain middle ground that sits uncomfortably between the two extremes

ldquoThe picture that emerged was not black-and-whiterdquo explains filmmaker Ric Esther Bienstock about her award-winning documentary ldquobut rather a nuanced and complex story that forced me to question my own moral and ethical assumptionsrdquo

In her quest to help us appreciate the challenges of spinning such a nuanced tale Bienstock uses her write-up to give us a peek inside the world of a film-maker whose never-ending quest for the right characters and the travel money to interview them determines the quality of the final product and in some instances whether the film gets made at all Bien-stockrsquos journey of discovery took her around the world

A little closer to home the news stories of indigenous peoples have produced too much heartache and too-little discussion about ways to reconcile past injustices

A story that deserves much more atten-tion as we seemingly head into a new era of cooperation between the federal gov-ernment and First Nations is the treatment of the disabled individuals on reserves

In her bid to shed light on the issue Trina Roache a Halifax correspondent for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network dug into the little-known Jordanrsquos Prin-

ciple a concept which promises that no disabled child in a First Nation community shall be left behind

Sadly what Roache discovered was federal- provincial buck-passing over who should do what

As was the case with CBC Edmontonrsquos I-unit Roache used a freedom-of-infor-mation law this one at the federal level to uncover crucial details that informed her reporting

She profiled the plight of Maurina Beadle and her son Jeremy Meawasige who live on the Pictou Landing First Na-tion in Nova Scotia

When a stroke debilitated Maurina in 2010 she needed extra help to take care of Jeremy at home Unfortunately the provincial and federal governments argued against footing the bill that is before a court set them straight

The unfathomable plight of the disabled in the Aboriginal community was also front and centre in Kevin Rollasonrsquos Win-nipeg Free Press story of Brian Sinclair a disabled aboriginal man who inexplicably became a forgotten man at the Health Sci-ences Centre in Winnipeg in September of 2008

While Sinclairrsquos story was well-known at least on a superficial level it was left to a coronerrsquos inquest into his death to seek answers to a crucial question why was he left to wait 34 hours in the Centrersquos emergency room for a treatable bladder

infection When the doctors finally got

around to seeing the patient who had been under the supervision of Manitobarsquos Public Trustee Office he had been dead for so long that rigor mortis was already setting in

ldquoDuring the days weeks and months of the inquest rdquo writes Rollason ldquoI began wondering about the 199 other patients who passed through the same emer-gency room doors that Sinclair went through but who did receive treatmentrdquo

His explanatory piece tackled some of those questions thus providing context to a tragic event

And tragedy also spurred Shelley Page to revisit an event that goes back even farther than 2008 In this case the larg-est mass murder of women in Canadian history the Dec 6 1989 massacre of engineering students at Montrealrsquos LrsquoEcole Polytechnique

Page initially wrote a story about the massacre for her then-employer Toronto Star

But something about that original cover-age nagged at her as the 25th anniversary of the mass killing approached

Needing to revisit the original story the people she did and didnrsquot interview and the words she used to craft the piece Page approached the Star to write a follow-up a postmortem of her original story

After not hearing back she approached the Ottawa Citizen Her former paper said yes

Pagersquos account is an intriguing evalu-ation of how her original story failed to honour the memories of the young women pictured at the top of page four

ldquoI turned the dead engineering students into sleeping beauties who received flow-ers from potential suitorsrdquo she writes

ldquoI should have referred to the buildings they wouldnrsquot design the machines they wouldnrsquot create and the products never imaginedrdquo

However it was not only words and edi-torial cartoons that won awards Pictures did too

With the advent of digital cameras and Instagram accounts it can become more difficult to appreciate the intricacies of snapping that one picture that seems to say it all

In his account of how he got up close to spawning salmon along the banks of the Adams River in BCrsquos Roderick Haig-Brown Park Globe and Mail photogra-pher John Lehmann explains how he used an empty fish tank ( yes a fish tank) to bag the money shot

And in his backstory of the shot that featured the desperate lunge of tennis star Gael Monfils Toronto Sun photographer and tennis enthusiast Stan Behal explains how he used timing

The result A shot of the French player suspended in an act of acrobatic futility

As Behal and many of the award-winners explained sometimes the most poignant moments come from those who lose not those who win

The award-winnersrsquo accounts were intriguing not only for their insight and backstories but for the tips that they pro-vided at the end of each account

In general they focused on the need to be dogged in the pursuit of truth use freedom-of-information and access-to-information laws to dig for documents and data develop and nourish contacts carve out space in busy schedules dominated never-ending assignments and crushing deadlines to research original stories and write drafts before submitting the final version

On that score Irsquoll turn over the remain-ing space to the Toronto Starrsquos Jim Coyle who gives this advice to students

ldquoThere are no shortcuts You have to read mdash a lot And you have to write mdash a lot

ldquoI tell them that even after 35 years I never send a first draft to the Star I rewrite top to bottom 10 20 30 times

ldquolsquoCoz as Hemingway said the hard part of this biz is getting the words rightrdquo

In praise of award-winning journalism

THE JORDAN PRINCIPLErsquoS PROMISE OF COMPASSIONATE CARE Maurina Beadle and her son Jeremy Meawasige live on the Pictou Landing First Nation in Nova Scotia The Aboriginal Peoples Network chronicled their plight in ldquoOutside the circlerdquo

8 MEDIA 2015 AWARDS EDITION 9

CAJ - Don McGillivray Award and Community Broadcast

Aura of Power

CBC News Edmonton

In early 2014 it seems many people had heard the rumour a private pent-

house apartment was being built for then-premier Alison Redford at public expense

We turned rumour into fact and the story of what became known as Redfordrsquos ldquoSkypalacerdquo made national headlines Un-der pressure from within her own caucus Redford resigned as premier the week before the Skypalace documents were released to us

Two weeks later there was more public outrage after we broke the story of how Redford had flown her daughter on 50 government flights including two holiday long weekends in Jasper

In July we published and broadcast our story of how Redfordrsquos staff had booked fake passengers on government planes so she could fly with a chosen entourage

Redford resigned her seat as an MLA eight days after the story appeared and a day before the auditor general released his official report

Alberta Auditor General Merwan Saher coined the phrase that perhaps best cap-tures the brief troubled reign of Redford

ldquoPremier Redford used public assets (aircraft) for personal and partisan purpos-es And Premier Redford was involved in a plan to convert public space in a public building into personal living spacerdquo Saher wrote in his report released in August

ldquoHow could this have happened The answer is the aura of power around Premier Redford and her office and the perception that the influence of the office should not be questionedrdquo

We never for a moment questioned the need to challenge Redfordrsquos ldquoaura of powerrdquo But we knew any investigation of a powerful politician had to be meticu-

lously planned reported and verified We produced the stories through a com-

bination of targeted freedom-of-informa-tion requests enterprise thinking carefully cultivated sources and most importantly methodically planned and organized reporting

Documents obtained through freedom of information produced the Skypalace story But we did not simply file a raft of fishing-expedition requests hoping one might yield the documents

As a full-time investigative unit we ex-tensively employ freedom of information to generate stories and maintain produc-tion At any given time we have about 150 active requests Few are made on a hunch

Instead we look for a confidential source with direct knowledge of what we are investigating Confidential sources may not be able or willing to speak on the record but they can provide informa-tion which can be used to craft very spe-cific requests both in terms of the informa-tion sought and the time frame

In the case of Skypalace our source told us to request the communications between Redfordrsquos executive assistant and the architect responsible for the penthouse We filed six separate requests to two departments which yielded the documents that underpinned the story and made it irrefutable

Redfordrsquos lavish travel had been making headlines for weeks when she publicly stated it was common knowledge she took her daughter on government flights

Except it wasnrsquot common knowledge something Jennie Russell immediately realized

The list of passengers for government flights are posted online in Alberta Rus-

sell manually pored over hundreds of pages of flight manifests and found 50 flights on which Redford had taken her daughter

Two of those trips were on holiday long weekends in Jasper We cross-referenced those trips with her posted expenses and found that on one weekend she stayed at the luxury Jasper Park Lodge supposedly on government business But after two full days of reporting we could find no work Redford had done in Jasper that weekend

Russell also noticed an unfamiliar name on one of the manifests Angelita Escultero We knew from a source that Redfordrsquos family had a Filipino nanny Facebook searches revealed photos of Escultero with Redfordrsquos daughter in front of the Alberta legislature and that she worked part-time at a fast-food restaurant in Calgary

To make certain we had the right per-son Russell determined when Escultero was scheduled to work at the restaurant travelled to Calgary and approached her during her break She confirmed she was Redfordrsquos nanny and had flown on the government plane

The draft auditor generalrsquos report detail-ing the fake passengers scheme appeared in our anonymous tip inbox as an attach-ment

The source had admired our previous work on Redford and wanted this infor-mation to be made public so it couldnrsquot be watered down under political pressure as the source had seen happen in the past

But before we could publish or broad-cast anything we had to do two things ensure the document was genuine and ensure the source would not be caught

After several phone conversations

we convinced the source to meet us at a fast-food restaurant where we verified the sourcersquos identity and that the source would have access to the highly confidential document

At the same meeting we asked numer-ous questions to establish the document could not be traced back to the source

Did the document reside on a server to which many people have access How broadly distributed was the document Did the source use an office photocopier (Photocopiers create a record that may be tracked to a specific person)

We ask these questions because we always think long-term we want sources to remain in their jobs so as to hopefully provide us with more inside information in the future

Getting the information is only the first step Successful large-scale investigative reporting requires planning and orga-nization For every story we produce a step-by-step plan which details how we will pursue it and how we produce it for all platforms

We do this to improve efficiency and ensure accuracy but also to document our work This is crucial not only to meet our

employerrsquos journalistic standards but also to satisfy the legal requirements of the modern due-diligence defence to libel and defamation

And finally for every story we conduct line-by-line fact checking to ensure every word and statement is supported by docu-ments and by our reporting

Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell are reporters with CBC Investigates the investigative unit of CBC Edmonton They can be reached at cbcinvestigatescbcca

LINKS TO OUR STORIES

Skypalace wwwcbccanewscanadaed-montonalison-redford-ordered-penthouse-suite-in-federal-building-12589713pentDaughter flights httpwwwcbccanewscanadaedmontonalison-redford-flew-daughter-on-dozens-of-government-flights-12607362 Fake passengers httpwwwcbccanewscanadaedmon-tonpremier-alison-redford-s-flights-had-false-passengers-auditor-general-says-12720906

Finalists

Alison Brunette

Challenging hospital policy on

medical marijuana use

CBC Radio One ndash Quebec AM

Abigail Bimman

Who cares

CTV News Kitchener

Natalie Clancy

Working holiday nightmare

CBC News Vancouver

Charles Rusnell Jennie Russell

By Charles Rusnell

SPENDING ONTHE PUBLIC DIME Redfordrsquos lavish travel had been making headlines for weeks when she publicly stated it was common knowledge she took her daughter on government flightsPHOTO CREDIT Jason FransonThe Canadian Press


CAJ ndash Text Feature

It was April 2014 and the Toronto Star newsroom like much of the world

was captivated by the heinous abduc-tion of nearly 300 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria by the terror group Boko Haram With each passing day it became increas-ingly apparent we needed to be on the ground to properly cover the story

Over the course of two weeks in Nigeria I filed eleven articles culminating in a 2800-word feature reconstruction of the midnight raid on the schoolhouse and the reverberations the kidnapping had on the Chibok community and the country

To tell the story of the horrific kidnap-ping the article focused on individuals in the days leading up to and following the abduction mdash a schoolgirl who bravely jumped from her captorsrsquo truck before it rumbled its way deeper into forest fathers their attempts to rescue their daughters futile left only with mementos their girls left behind and a female student afraid her school may soon be attacked itself

Getting thereMy foreign experience to this point has

been limited to what is sometimes viewed derisively as parachute journalism I have dropped into countries in the days fol-lowing a devastating natural disaster or an escalation in violence and covered the fallout In these instances the daily challenge has not been convincing people to talk but rather tasks that we often take for granted Getting safely from Point

A to Point B finding a stable Internet or satellite connection to file your dispatch securing a place to stay in a hotspot over-run with international media

In this case the troubles began before leaving for the airport Getting into Ni-geria requires a visa mdash and getting a visa requires persistence and a bit of magic

For journalists the gatekeeper to get into the country has a Yahoo email ac-count and rarely picks up her phone After calling her a dozen times over three days and getting nowhere I headed to Ottawa where I talked my way into the Nigeria High Commission without an appointment and after repeated sprints to a nearby Staples to print off the appropriate docu-ments I managed to convince the staff to grant an expedited visa Had I not I shown up in person I am not sure I would have ever received it

On the groundOnce in Nigeria the fieldwork con-

tinued to be frustrating and sometimes dangerous Air Canada lost my luggage containing everything from my toothbrush to a flak jacket for several days (thank-fully a colleague wisely advised me years ago to always carry your cash camera and computer in your carry-on)

Later on a roadside in a small town where I met the fathers of the missing girls local police tried to shake us down poking a loaded rifle at my chest

I filed my first story within hours of ar-

riving in the capital Abuja using contacts I made before leaving When covering these kinds of stories I believe in hitting the ground running

Knowing your editors will often expect a large feature wrapping things up I talk to every one I can stockpiling material that I can later use

For example a Nigerian researcher who had done some freelancing for the Star shared a phone number with a pastor in the community where the schoolhouse was raided I gave him my local number asking him to pass it on to others in the village

Having the local pastor vouch for me bereaved parents and relatives got in touch which led to connecting with the fathers who agreed to sit down for hours to share their stories

Hearing their storiesChibok is an isolated community in

Borno a volatile northeastern state and the heartland of Boko Haram Nigerians traveling to the town from nearby cities risked kidnapping or death A foreign jour-nalist would almost be courting it While large US news outlets traveled there or nearby some with armored guards the Starrsquos editors decided it was too reckless

Instead three fathers agreed to make the journey south to the more stable Nasawara state so they could tell their daughtersrsquo stories

Alongside the article we printed an edi-

torrsquos note explaining that the Star had paid for the menrsquos travel expenses because we believed their story needed to be heard

With translation from a fixer I spoke to each man for two to three hours some-thing that would not have been possible by phone because of the countryrsquos spotty cell network

They shared mementos of their daugh-ters that helped paint a portrait of the miss-ing girls school notebooks photographs a graduation dress that was never worn

Doing the kind of in-depth interviewing required to reconstruct scenes was difficult when going through a translator but I just focused on asking simple questions that would help them not just remember what happened but how it looked smelled sounded

Tip sheetShow up in person Itrsquos a lot harder for

an embassy to deny you a visa when itrsquos one form on a pile Smile be polite but persistent

Get a local SIM card mdash but donrsquot always call from your local number There were several instances where I got tips or interviews because it was easy to text or call a local number However government officials frequently would ignore calls from my local cell so I would call them from a Canadian Skype number which they inexplicably always answered

When writing chart out a roadmap so you can figure out the narrative arc before you start writing The added bonus is this allows you to write in smaller chunks turning a daunting 3000-word feature into much more manageable 500-word chunks

Jesse McLean is a staff reporter with the Toronto Starrsquos investigative team He can be reached at jmcleanthestarca

A Daughterrsquos Disappearing Silhouette

Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean

Text Feature Finalists

Ethan Faber Phil Hahn

The Search for Ashley and

Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro

Trouble beneath our feet

Postmedia News

RUTH AMOSrsquo IDENTIFICATION CARD The 19-year-old left her home the morning of April 14 to attend a government boarding school to write her final-year exams She was among nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped that night when Boko Haram insurgents raided the school PHOTO CREDIT Jesse McLean

A FATHERrsquoS GRIEF Amos Mustapharsquos 19-year-old daughter Ruth was one of nearly 300 school-girls kidnapped from a Nigerian boarding school on April 14 ldquoMy greatest pain is the thought of my daughter Where she is what they have done to herrdquo he saidPHOTO CREDIT Jesse McLean


CAJ ndash Open Broadcast Feature

Tales from the Organ Trade

Associated Producers Ltd Shaw Media

Ric Esther Bienstock Felix Golubev Simcha Jacobovici

By Ric Esther Bienstock

When I set out to make Tales From the Organ Trade I thought I was embarking on a black-and-white story of

desperation and exploitation There have been countless films articles and reports about the black market organ trade and all of them tell the same sensational story affluent First World patients in dire need of a kidney travel to the Third World to buy an organ from an impoverished but equally desperate victim These black market operations take place in countries like India Pakistan China Columbia Egypt the Philippines Turkey and Russia But when the illicit organ trade gets shut down in one country it inevitably pops up in another

The patients come from the US Canada Europe and the Middle East ndash anywhere where people have the money and wherewithal to seek out a black market transplant My team and I travelled around the world ndash to Kosovo Turkey Israel Ukraine Moldova the Philippines the US and Canada ndash and met with organ brokers transplant surgeons victims recipients lawmakers and ethicists

The picture that emerged was not black-and-white but rather a nuanced and complex story that forced me to question my own moral and ethical assumptions

The black market in human organs is dominated by the selling of kidneys There are two reasons for this First kidney transplan-tation is an operation that has become relatively routine and can be performed easily in hospitals and clinics without state-of-the-art facilities

Second we are born with two kidneys If wersquore healthy we can survive with one Many operations take place in private clinics like the one we filmed in Kosovo But many take place in estab-lished hospitals with respected surgeons who seem to turn a blind eye to the fact that money is changing hands It is very easy for someone to skirt the rules regarding compensation when receiv-ing or ldquodonatingrdquo a kidney

The World Health Organization claims that every 60 minutes somewhere in the world a human organ is sold on the black market I strongly suspect that estimate is low There is simply no way to track how many people are being compensated I also

discovered that this is not only a Third World phenomenon We met someone who sold his kidney on Craigslist

Most of us intuitively feel that purchasing a kidney is wrong The consensus from the medical establishment the World Health Organization and medical ethicists is that buying an organ is immoral and exploitative News reports describe these transac-tions as coercive and throw around terms like organ harvesting kidney cartels and cannibalism Without any analysis or context that would be the end of the story But therersquos a more complicated story to tell that digs a little deeper and doesnrsquot have as resolute a point of view I wanted Tales From the Organ Trade to tell that story

Desperation in the black marketThis is a story where law-abiding citizens desperate to live

turn to the black market for a life-saving transplant where the victims living in abject poverty are driven to use their bodies as a bank book Where the medical establishment helpless on account of the shortage of organs all too often watches people die and where the villains often save lives

To really understand how the organ trade works we needed to access all the players involved -- the brokers doctors surgeons recipients and donors It took over two years to find the stories that would provide a complete picture I followed two North Americans Mary Jo and Walter both desperate for a kidney

Producer director Ric Esther Bienstock (middle) with producer Felix Golubev (right) filming in Prishtina Kosovo

Their stories put a human face on the difficulties of living on dialysis and the harsh reality of what itrsquos like to be on a waiting list that is not transparent and brutally slow

We filmed in the Philippines one of the hot spots for organ trafficking at the time Organ selling is so widespread in certain areas that the brokers donrsquot have to recruit ndash donors are lining up at their doors

In Manila we followed a young man trying to sell his kidney His dream was to move his family out of an urban slum into a small house in the countryside where he could farm and raise chickens But his broker was spooked by our cameras and at the last minute told him the operation was cancelled In fact she swapped him for another donor with the same blood type Instead of feeling like I had ldquosavedrdquo him I felt Irsquod robbed him of his one chance at a better life I was surprised and uncomfortable with my own reaction Thatrsquos when I decided that I wanted to take viewers on the same ethically ambiguous journey I was on while making the film

I went on to meet many young men who suffered no complic-ations from their transplant and who used their money wisely to send their kids to school buy a house and in some cases buy a micro-business that would provide them with ongoing income I met others who drank and caroused through their money in mere months and one unfortunate soul who learned that his one re-maining kidney was riddled with disease The fact is stories with positive outcomes are rarely if ever documented though they represented the majority of cases that I witnessed

Finally at the heart of Tales From the Organ Trade is the anatomy of a single black market transplant I interviewed a Canadian man who travelled to the Medicus Clinic in Kosovo for his transplant Raul was brave enough to share his story with me and appear on camera He was a very sympathetic character who hoped that the money he was paying would help someone out of poverty just as they were helping him to live It was a surprise to me (and to Raul) that several months later the Medicus clinic would be at the centre of one of the most notorious organ traffick-ing prosecutions in recent memory

At that point I decided that I would try to piece together all the

players from a single black market organ transplant Raul was the recipient but we still had to track down the rest of the people involved in his operation My first stop was Kosovo where I filmed Jonathan Ratel the prosecutor of the case I was able to get my hands on the indictment which served as a blueprint for all the transplants that took place at the clinic

The Turkish surgeon who allegedly performed the transplants Dr Yusuf Sonmez was a fugitive from justice wanted by In-terpol Dubbed Dr Vulture by the international media Sonmez is considered one of the most notorious organ traffickers in the world

Surprisingly I was able to contact him through his own web-site I sent an email message telling him what I was doing and asking if he would be willing to meet me for coffee ndash no cameras no crew His response ldquoI googled you ndash having a cup of coffee doesnrsquot sound very very badrdquo I flew to Turkey hoping that I didnrsquot make the trip for a mere cup of coffee He set a time and place for a meeting It turned out coffee was accompanied by dinner which was accompanied by his parents wife and young child At the end of the meal he told me he saw no reason to appear in the documentary The next day he changed his mind Why Because his mother liked me

I reached out to Dr Zaki Shapira an Israeli doctor who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case Dr Shapira granted me an interview When I questioned him on the morality of the black market organ trade he shrugged ldquoIrsquom a doctor When I know I can save someonersquos life should I tell them I canrsquot because itrsquos illegal Impossiblerdquo

After spending months trying to identify Raulrsquos ldquodonorrdquo we finally gained access to the stacks of evidence that were collected for the prosecution After sifting through thousands of pages we found a faded photocopy of her Moldovan passport With the help of a local journalist in Moldova we found out where she worked and finally met her face-to-face In sharp contrast to all reports on this case she was healthy happy and she was paid every penny she was promised

The Kosovo case was a widely reported story internationally and every article screamed exploitation organ theft and abuse

SCARRED FOR LIFE The black market po-tentially exposes both the organ sellers AND the recipients to abuse and to sub-standard medical practicePHOTO CREDIT Associated Producers


The real story was much more layered Itrsquos undeniable there are atrocities in the

world of organ trafficking heinous and unacceptable by any standards The black market potentially exposes both the organ sellers AND the recipients to abuse and to sub-standard medical practice

In China there have been reports from reliable sources saying that organs are being taken from executed prisoners in particular the Falun Gong

In India it is known that debt-laden vil-lagers are being coerced by their lenders to sell their kidneys to pay back their loans In these cases and likely many others there is no moral ambiguity We all un-derstand that this is wrong But the lionrsquos share of the organ trade takes place in an ethical grey zone

The black market in organs is flourish-ing worldwide Demand for kidneys is growing As more desperate patients real-ize that they will never make it to the top of the list more operations are going to take place in the unregulated world of the black market

Tales From the Organ Trade doesnrsquot provide a solution but with access to all the players Irsquom hoping that the film pro-vides some insight into this complicated tragic human drama

Telling this story and the art of docu-mentary filmmaking

Irsquom a documentary filmmaker who does largely investigative stories On this documentary I was director producer and

writer I had two co-producers We approached Canadian filmmaker Da-

vid Cronenberg because the subject matter seemed right for him -- and his voice We asked him to watch an early cut and hoped that if he saw it he would feel comfortable being associated with the film Turns out he did

Raising the money for documentaries is always an issue To raise the money to make this film I pre-sold the idea of the documentary to HBO in the US and Shaw Media in Canada

As the story got more complicated and I had to travel more extensively I ap-proached other broadcasters in Europe to try to raise more funds

I ended up selling the story to ZDFArte a GermanFrench broadcaster

Irsquove been making films for around 20 years and start from scratch with each new project trying to find funders and broadcasters Itrsquos always a struggle

Related links

httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=xJX1UQ3Z94c

Wwwtalesfromtheorgantradecomhttpwwwthisisyearonecomric-es-

ther-bienstock-asking

I NEED A KIDNEY Mary Jorsquos story put a human face on the difficulties of living on dialysis and the harsh reality of what itrsquos like to be on a waiting list thatrsquos brutally slow PHOTO CREDIT Associated Producers

Finalists

Kathleen Martens Wasting away

APTN Investigates

Geoff Leo Roxanna Woloshyn Mining for a miracle

CBC News Saskatchewan

Sandie Rinaldo Litsa Sourtzis Sarah Stevens

Predatorrsquos playground CTV ndash W5

Brennan Leffler Jennifer Tryon Jona-than Wong Elias Campbell Krysia

Collyer Laurie Few Out of shadows

Global News ndash 16X9

Call for ApplicationsThe Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy provides the opportunity for an experienced Canadian journalist to pursue a one-year in-depth examination of an emerging or challenging public policy issueThe Atkinson Fellow is provided with a one-year research stipend of $75000 and up to $25000 for expenses beginning September 1 2016

The fellowship culminates in a series of published articles in the Toronto Star in the fall of 2017 The deadline for applications is February 10 2016 no later than 500 pm (EST)For more information on this opportunity and our selection process please visit wwwatkinsonfoundationcagrantsatkinson-fellowship-in-public-policy


This story started with Kalen Christ a 21-year-old fast-food worker He

was working at a McDonaldrsquos restaurant in Victoria BC and wrote to CBCrsquos Go Public with concerns that his franchisersquos owners were bringing over temporary foreign workers to three locations

His bosses had done this before which resulted in his and his co-workersrsquo hours being cut He wondered why there was a need to hire temporary foreign workers in the first place since he said resumeacutes came in almost daily at their restaurant from potential applicants

He had learned from Go Publicrsquos ground-breaking coverage of RBC and the TFW controversy that this was against the rules Foreign workers could only be hired if Canadians were unavailable

The RBC story led to a flood of emails claiming abuses of the temporary foreign worker program from the fast-food to oil-and-gas sectors We looked into many of them but most were impossible to prove

This one was different Kalen was smart and motivated willing to help us obtain internal records although still reluctant to go on camera

He was conscious about being mis-construed as a racist and a disgruntled employee He was neither Far from it He liked his Filipino colleagues but was upset at management He felt he was neither given the same hours nor the same opportunities His bosses told him the

foreigners ldquowork harderrdquo and were ldquomore reliablerdquo

For several weeks I worked with Kalen to obtain what we needed to prove his claims Months of work schedules and payroll documents painted a clear pat-tern Over time the foreign workers were getting full-time hours while the local workersrsquo hours were cut back

It also showed some were being paid more than locals Kalen was also able to provide dozens of resumes from local applicants

Getting Kalen on cameraWe had the proof Now we needed him

to go on the record on camera After many many phone conversations Kalen was finally persuaded to do the interview Reporter Kathy Tomlinson (now with The Globe and Mail) headed to Victoria with long-time CBC cameraman Robb Doug-las to shoot the interview with another restaurant worker who had dropped off a resumeacute at the McDonaldrsquos franchise but never heard back

Kalenrsquos nervousness was justified The response to his story was overwhelming It took of life of its own

The government was swift to crack down on the franchise owners suspending all their foreign-worker permits and put-ting them on a blacklist pending its inves-tigation It set up a tip line and then-Em-ployment Minister Jason Kenney made a

public call for complaints of abuse of the temporary foreign worker program As for McDonaldrsquos Canada it initially pushed back when confronted with the claims However once the federal government took action the fast-food giant was forced to end its relationship with the owners and took over their three locations It also said it would monitor its companyrsquos use of the program Kalen got to keep his job pushed into the public spotlight and did several interviews with other TV radio and newspaper outlets

BC Federation of Labour threatened to boycott McDonaldrsquos The public outcry was huge

Beyond the one anecdoteThe story at this point was far from

over We heard from many other local McDonaldrsquos employees especially from British Columbia and Alberta who faced the same challenges as Kalen losing hours to temporary foreign workers On the flip side temporary workers from Belize with the fast food chain also went public claiming they were treated like ldquoslavesrdquo

The real kicker came when another McDonaldrsquos franchise owner leaked a recorded conference call to Go Public reporter Kathy Tomlinson In it McDon-aldrsquos Canadarsquos CEO John Betts called the temporary foreign worker controversy ldquobullshitrdquo claiming that Jason Kenney ldquogets itrdquo suggesting he was on side He

had held a national conference call with the companyrsquos franchisees across the country to talk about the bad publicity spurred on by Go Public reports Turns out Kenney was not on side and im-mediately announced a moratorium on the food services sectorrsquos access to the foreign worker program There have been sweeping ndash and controversial ndash changes to program since our stories aired The rules have tightened making it harder and more expensive for Canadian employers to bring in foreign workers

Go Public - A dedicated teamFor several years a small team of

dedicated investigative journalists have worked hard to build the popular award-winning CBC segment Go Public All our stories were generated by members of the public people from all walks of life who experienced an injustice and who wanted to get answers and accountability It has been successful in fulfilling CBCrsquos man-date of public-service journalism Most stories that went to air got positive results for the people who went public and some-times they sparked changes in policy like this one

The key to its success has been the CBCrsquos willingness to devote the time and resources to the segment These stories take time It takes time to sift through the

dozens sometimes hundreds of emails received daily It takes time and exper-tise to see the potential in an email from the public And it takes time and skill to investigate and tell these stories

In times of declining newsroom bud-gets I can only hope media organizations will continue to invest in investigative journalism giving journalists the time and resources needed to uncover stories

with impact stories that serve the public interest

Tip SheetKeep an open mind and listen Real

stories can come from unexpected places Kalen was a very young high school dropout an unlikely source but he was positioned perfectly to tell this story and get the goods to prove it

Be prepared do your research If yoursquore going to hold powers accountable you have to make sure yoursquore right

Be persistent Kalen was a reluctant participant We spent a lot of time on the phone getting to know him and building a relationship of trust When you know you have the facts right donrsquot let PR spin blanket denials or meaningless platitudes from government or corporations distract you Keep pushing They always push back -- the bigger the story the harder they push

Enza Uda researched and produced ldquoGo Publicrdquo with Kathy Tomlinson from 2008 to 2015 with a two-year hiatus working with CBC Vancouverrsquos investiga-tive team She is now a writer and pro-ducer with the CBC News in Vancouver

Investigative reporter Kathy Tomlinson led the Go Public team from 2007 to 2015 She is now a reporter with The Globe and Mail

CAJ ndash Open Broadcast News

Foreign Workers McJobs

CBC News ndash The National

Kathy Tomlinson Enza Uda Robb Douglas

By Enza Uda

SPEAKING OUT Kalenrsquos nervousness was justified The response to his story was overwhelming It took on a life of its ownPHOTO CREDIT CBC

Finalists

Alison CrawfordOperation Snapshot behind the

scenes of a child porn bustCBC News

Gosie Sawicka Leif Larsen Pierre Verriere

Firearms instructor gives certifi-cates after helping students with

examCBC News Manitoba

Kevin Newman Litsa Sourtzis Annie Burns-Pieper

Suicide watch CTV ndash W5


CAJ ndash CWA Canada CAJ Award For Labour Reporting

Rail Fatigue in Canada ndash A Silent Peril

CBC Investigative Unit

Dave Seglins John Nicol Heather Evans Carla Turner

Jeremy MacDonald and Gord Westmacott

(The Current CBC Radio)

By Dave Seglins

Imagine a freight train three kilome-tres long rolling across Canada at

speeds in excess of 80 kilometres an hour carrying all manner of dangerous goods -- passing communities rail traffic signals level crossings -- and the engineer is liter-ally falling asleep at the controls

Thatrsquos the terrifying reality according to several of Canadarsquos locomotive operators in candid interviews with CBC News as well as fatigue surveys by rail worker unions and Transport Canada

CBC interviewed working engineers who admit to missing stop signals and narrowly avoiding rail disasters after nod-ding off at the controls and being in a fog due to long exhaustive shifts with little rest

We protected their identities as these veteran railroaders risked careers and pen-sions to speak out about an industry that relies on an entrenched 24-7 on-call sched-uling system In one case we unearthed phone recordings of a CP Rail dispatcher ordering an engineer to report for duty to

drive a passenger train on two hours sleep

How we got the storyThis exposeacute was the result of several

years of interest in rail safety It is just one of several investigative stories that grew out of a CBC I-Unit in Toronto which in 2012 began documenting prob-lems and corruption within Canadarsquos rail industry

We received tips about problems at CN Rail including a bizarre story of the com-pany hauling a train of tanker cars back and forth to the US and never unloading the cargo Turns out it was a scam by ship-pers to defraud a US government green energy program

On July 6 2013 when a runaway freight train carrying crude oil rolled through the heart of Lac-Meacutegantic Que-bec derailing exploding and killing 47 people the CBC already had deep sources within the industry

We mounted stories about the alarming frequency of runaway trains failures by

major rail companies to properly report accidents and derailments to safety regula-tors and corruption allegations within the industry

This work attracted more than 50 tip-sters and sources from inside the industry -- including family members and spouses of railroaders who kept telling us about a culture of lsquoiron fisted managementrsquo con-stant fear of firings and chronic fatigue among railroaders

Railroaders and other insiders of all stripes kept telling us about a lesser-known pervasive peril within the industry We heard legions of complaints stories of divorce depression alcoholism and risks to public safety

It all stemmed we were told from railroadersrsquo long shifts away from home men and women forced to respond to a 24-7 on-call scheduling system identified by safety regulators as grossly affecting the health and competence of locomotive crews

Obstacles

CBC focused on this issue of rail fatigue years of studies done by govern-ment and found a number of veteran working railroaders who ndash fearing dis-missal ndash agreed to be interviewed only if we obscured their faces and their voices

CBC granted this confidentiality believ-ing these railroadersrsquo stories represented a widespread complaint among workers Without protection of identities these men would never have spoken up publicly

They candidly admitted to near misses at work and nightmares while off-duty bolting awake in their beds dreaming they were behind the controls of a locomotive and about to crash having missed a stop signal or signs of an on-coming train

Beyond these interviews our find-ings were bolstered by the discovery that Transport Canada had designed a survey of rail workers that ultimately was con-ducted by their unions It confirmed high levels of chronic fatigue

Our stories forced the issue onto the na-tional transportation agenda including at a federal railway working group on fatigue management

Whatrsquos more the rail fatigue stories

prompted another flood of tips that has led to yet more stories ndash including an exposeacute of a feud between Canadarsquos Transport Minister and the head of CP Rail over an investigation of a CP train parked in the BC mountains which regulators allege was left without proper brakes

Lessons learnedCBCrsquos ldquoRail Fatiguerdquo series is a testa-

ment to how the investment of time and journalistic resources (so rare these days) can reap huge longer-term rewards Tips expertise and the trust of sources enabled us to become a leading Canadian voice on rail safety

Investigative journalism takes money and time But itrsquos that investment which is needed to unearth these kinds of original stories ndash to develop the smarts the depth and the trust and reputation on an issue of such vital public importance

And therersquos more to come so stay tunedhellip

Dave Seglins is an investigative journal-ist with CBC News based in Toronto He and his team can be reached at (416) 205-5823 or by emailing daveseglinscbcca or tipscbcca

A CLOSE CALL A rail engineer who wished to remain anonymous told CBC News that he had once been so exhausted while on shift that he missed a signal at the controls of a three-kilometre-long train PHOTO CREDIT

Story Links

httpwwwcbccanewscanadafreight-train-drivers-report-falling-asleep-on-the-job-12781696

httpwwwcbccanewscanadarail-companies-fight-new-rules-to-prevent-crew-fatigue-12785581

httpwwwcbccanewscanadaengineer-was-asked-to-drive-passenger-train-on-two-hours-sleep-12790160

FinalistsIra Basen

Class StruggleCBC Radio One ndash Sunday Edi-

tionCBC News World Report CBC Radio ndash The Current

Sunny FreemanThe 4000 kilometre commute

The Huffington Post

Robert Bostelaar The secret squeeze

Ottawa Citizen

Gordon HoekstraCall renewed for justice

Vancouver Sun


CAJ ndash Online Media

ldquoChinarsquos Generation Greenrdquo

International Reporting Program

University of British Columbiarsquos Graduate School of

Journalism Shantou Universityrsquos Cheung Kong School of

Journalism and Communication and the Toronto Star

By Britney Dennison

China has an environmental move-mentrdquo This was the typical

question we heard from many of our family and friends when we described our project ldquoChinarsquos Generation Greenrdquo

Everyone knows about pollution in China ndash the air is thick with smog the water is polluted the soil is contaminated the waste is increasing and the biodiver-sity of the country is rapidly disappearing But what we wanted to highlight with our project is what people are doing about the environmental crises

A growing movementChinese economic growth over the last

few decades is unlike anything the world has ever seen The so-called ldquoChinese miraclerdquo is manifested in the growing domestic demand for consumer goods like televisions smartphones and cars There are now more than 240 million cars on Chinarsquos roads with more new vehicles added in 2012 than there were on the road total at the turn of the century

The trade-off for 30 years of prosperity has been a legacy of unspeakable envi-

ronmental damage This is reflected every day in newspapers and magazines around the world and the countryrsquos reputation is inextricable from its toxic footprint China has become infamous for its lsquoapocalypticrsquo air

The country has become a symbol of the darkest side of economic development and globalization And 300 million more people are expected to enter the countryrsquos middle class by 2020 multiplying the damage

But what few people know is that there is a burgeoning movement among young Chinese trying to do something about this environmental crisis This series is about the generation that has inherited a toxic legacy and a few members of that genera-tion who are openly and actively trying to change the trajectory of the country to avoid disaster

32-year-old researcher Chen Liwen won a lawsuit against the Guangzhou Environ-mental Bureau for failing to release their data on incinerators Our readersrsquo were shocked They were shocked that you can

sue the Chinese government ndash and winIn the words of wildlife photographer

Yuanqi Wu ldquoWe are the generation at the point when China has become more open We travel internationally and we see the outside world through the Internet Wersquove been influenced by other countriesrsquo envi-ronmentally friendly ideas And we want to tell the world what we want what we think and what the government has been doing wrongrdquo

A team effortThis project was produced by the Inter-

national Reporting Program (IRP) which is a yearlong course out of the University of British Columbiarsquos Graduate School of Journalism

The IRP is designed to train the next generation of global journalists I was a fellow in the program We spent the year working collaboratively to produce ldquoChinarsquos Generation Greenrdquo Our team included 10 students and a group of pro-fessors who have expertise across various media and subject areas Our in-class time was spent reviewing works of interna-

tional journalism researching Chinarsquos environmental crisis deliberating on ethics discussing form and medium and developing our stories

With the International Reporting Pro-gram the process is as important as the product We learn how to find the story and sources how to organize travel and visas create reporting schedules and ulti-mately how to gather all the material we need in the short length of time we have in the field

For many students in the class this is the first time theyrsquove had the opportunity to report internationally We divided into five groups to examine air food waste water wildlife and conspicuous consump-tion

My team included my classmate Emma Bower (Editorrsquos note now Emma Smith) and our professor Dan McKinney We were reporting on families whose children were sick from Beijingrsquos air pollution Parents were desperate to protect their kids from the smog and were doing everything they could to mitigate the health risks involved with living in one of the worldrsquos most polluted cities

The students reporting on waste re-mained with us in Beijing while others fanned out across the country reporting in Yunnan province in the south Shanghai and Chengdu in the west

Accompanying each team was a Chi-nese student from Shantou Universityrsquos Cheung Kong School of Journalism and Communication The International Re-porting Program partnered with Shantou University students at the beginning of the

year Teams checked in with their partner each week to discuss stories sources and strategies

The project challenged the traditional fixer role through its collaborative ap-

proach and the students from Shantou University used the materials gathered to create their own works of journalism

The resulting project was a parallax website for the International Reporting Program and an accompanying web and print project for the Toronto Star Both sites use video interactive graphics pho-tos audio and text There was significant traffic and engagement with the majority of committed visitors in the first week

staying 10-30 minutes The story also gained wide attention on social media both on Twitter and on Chinarsquos Weibo network

Next StepsIn journalism you rarely have the op-

portunity to spend nine months on one story At the beginning of the project nine months seemed like a long time but we quickly realized that no length of time is ever enough There were countless stories of young Chinese activists that we could have added to the project ndash stories about protesters the development of innovative technologies and social media revolutions

That is why the International Reporting Program which is currently being trans-formed into a Global Reporting Centre is planning to continue reporting on the topic Our goal is to build on the work we have already done and expand the project to reach an audience in China

The full roster of recipients Umbreen Butt Britney Dennison Allison Griner Emma Smith Aurora Tejeida Jimmy Thomson Carlos Tello Mike Wallberg Leif Zapf-Gilje Peter Klein David Rum-mel Kathryn Gretsinger Daniel McKin-ney Kim Frank Chantelle Bellrichard Travis North Peter Herford Katelyn Verstraten Yujuan Xie Zhenzhen Zhang Haiyan Wu Xiaoqing Yang Xiaohong Lin Yonglin Yao Yacong Luo

Britney Dennison is the research advi-sor for The Global Reporting Centre and a former fellow of the International Report-ing Program Reach her at britneyden-nisongmailcom and on Twitter at BritneyDennison

FIGHTING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION Feng Cheng and his son Sean at their apartment in Beijing PHOTO CREDIT Britney Dennison

Finalists

Ashley Terry Heather Loney Kevin Buffitt James Armstrong Andrew Russell Carmen Chai

Laura Stone Amy Minsky IreneOgrodnik

Invisible woundsGlobalNewsca

Joshua HergesheimerThis man says Canadians need to know whatrsquos in their government pension plan and what demanding

justice cost himFreelancer The Vancouver

Observer


CAJ ndash Photojournalism

Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann

Raw talent will only get you so far as a photojournalist and I think if you

look at the work of successful visual story-tellers yoursquoll see that they have a clear and intimate understanding of the story

For me one of the fundamental basics of being a successful photojournalist is making sure that Irsquom part of the process

from the beginning and then contributing my own ideas Many of the images in my winning portfolio are strong on content and composition They are also creative Photojournalism is about storytelling and meaningful content not a fleeting moment posted to Instagram

British Columbia is North Americarsquos

visual candy story It never fails to amaze me when looking back over my yearsrsquo work the vast richness of the visual diversity found in British Columbian for a photojournalist 2014 had a number of highlights but the return of the Adams River Salmon run was the most technically challenging and my personal favourite

VIEW FROM A FISHBOWL A female and male (front) salmon in the spawning grounds along the banks of the Adams River in the Roderick Haig-Brown Park October 13 2014 The Adams River salmon run occurs every year but every fourth year is the dominant year when the largest return occurs The last dominant year was 2010 which was the largest since 1913

How I got it The dramatic photograph of salmon making their way up the Adams River to spawn was one of the most the chal-lenging and technically difficult to take but it produced one of the best results To achieve a unique view of the salmon I placed my $10000 camera in a fish tank bought off the shelf at pet shop (yes I really used a fish tank) mounted a flash to the side weighed everything down with small bags of kitty litter and placed the whole contraption precariously on a couple of rocks in the fast-moving river With a radio trigger to allow me to stay a good distance away and a lot of patience the fish gradually became comfortable with the foreign object in their path

RUSHING TO THE ALTAR With seconds to spare and a little help from her bridesmaids Nikki Coles from the community of Fogo on Fogo Island cuts through a field to the back door of St Andrewrsquos Anglican Church to wed Jason Ford of Deep Bay another hamlet on the island

How I got it I was lucky to spend a few days document-ing life on Newfoundlandrsquos Fogo Island which was a-buzz with news of a wedding I set off driving around the village from church to church trying to find the details when I no-ticed women leaving a hair salon with a veil Turns out she was the bride-to-be We chatted She was thrilled And so like a paparazzi I staked out the back door of the church

LIMBERING UP Jennifer Bennet 18 who will per-form as a snowflake flower in the Goh Balletrsquos Nutcrack-er stretches before rehearsals at The Centre in Vancouver December 7 2014

How I got it Covering a rehearsal over an actual performance can often leaded to better images because of greater access and a more relaxed atmosphere I noticed the dancers would pause for a once-over in the mirror on their way on to the stage I positioned myself in a spot that would frame the dancer with the leading lines of the stairs and waited

John Lehmann is one of the top photojournalists in North America He was named Canadian photojournalist of the year in 2012 and 2013 by the News Photographers of Canada

Jonathan HaywardPortfolio entryThe Canadian Press

Climate-change protester and former Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Larry WongPortfolio entryEdmonton Journal

Jason McGown yawns sitting between his uncle and father

Darryl DyckPortfolio entryFreelancer The Canadian Press

Joy at Vancouverrsquos Downtown Eastside

Finalists


CAJ ndash JHR CAJ Award for Human Rights Reporting

In recent years much of the media coverage on Jordanrsquos Principle has

centred on the court case of Jeremy Mea-wasige and his mother Maurina Beadle At newsworthy moments Beadle has let cameras into her living room in the Pictou Landing First Nation to talk about her battle with the Canadian Government over the care of her son

Jeremy is disabled living with autism and cerebral palsy Beadle had always cared for him at home on-reserve in Nova Scotia After a stroke in 2010 she needed help Unwilling to put her son into a provincial institution off-reserve the band arranged for home care When Ottawa wouldnrsquot cough up the money to cover the extra cost the band took the federal government to court claiming this was a case of Jordanrsquos Principle

The Pictou Landing First Nation wonThe federal government appealed the

decision A producer with APTN filed an access-to-information request to find out why One line repeated in the brief-ing notes caught our eye a concern that it ldquocould create a precedentrdquo

That led to the simple question ndash how many cases of Jordanrsquos Principle are there As I found out after months of research therersquos no easy answer

The essence of Jordanrsquos Principle is equal healthcare for indigenous kids living on-reserve How services get paid for on-reserve works differently Dental care or a hearing aid or a wheelchair might fall under Aboriginal Affairs Health Canada or the province But itrsquos not always clear and childrenrsquosrsquo needs can fall through the cracks The goal of Jordanrsquos Principle is to provide the care first and argue over who pays later

It was inspired by the death of a five-year-old Cree boy in Manitoba in 2005

Jordan River Anderson had a rare muscu-lar disorder He died in hospital while the provincial and federal governments fought over who should flip the bill for his home care

Two years later Jordanrsquos Principle re-ceived unanimous support from Canadarsquos MPs in the House of Commons But fast-forward to today Itrsquos a principle a federal government has yet to put into practice At the time APTN aired its three-part series Outside the Circle Ottawa insisted no Jordanrsquos Principle cases even existed Ask an organization like the First Nations Child amp Family Caring Society and the answer is in the hundreds

That discrepancy is where the story lies Indigenous understanding of equal health-care doesnrsquot fit the governmentrsquos criteria for the Jordanrsquos Principle Itrsquos a policy mired in bureaucracy with no money at-

tached The principle is inconsistent across the

country And First Nations have had little say in how the policy is shaped Comb-ing through federal documents is a lesson in semantics Ottawa only promises care equal to the area around the First Na-tion That doesnrsquot bode well for the many remote indigenous communities

The biggest challenge in the story was finding information

On its own website Aboriginal Af-fairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) has reports and audits over the years pointing out gaps in service and a lack of funding for healthcare on reserves But Jordanrsquos Principle is specific to situ-ations where therersquos a dispute over who should pay Ottawa narrows that dispute to the provincial and federal governments

But frequently people living on-reserve are bounced between two federal depart-ments ndash Health Canada and AANDC

To qualify under AANDC guidelines the child must have multiple disabilities requiring multiple service providers What if a child has only one special need

What do families do when they canrsquot get a new wheelchair or home care or drugs or a hearing aid device not covered by the non-Insured Health Benefits for First Na-tions and Inuit

Emails to Health Canada and AANDC asking for information and statistics of-fered nothing that wasnrsquot already on the website They granted no interviews

But when child welfare advocate Cindy Blackstock and the Assembly of First Nations brought a human right complaint against Ottawa APTN was the broad-caster

Blackstock has long argued that how the federal government provides child welfare including Jordanrsquos Principle

discriminates against indigenous people on-reserve

Weeks of hearings from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal were live-streamed and archived It was a rare window into the bureaucratic logic that steers the federal department responsible for handling Aboriginal Affairs

What it revealed was a lack of politi-cal will to follow through on a promise of equal healthcare for First Nations Metis and Inuit

AANDC officials kept track of the disparities in healthcare but as a former AANDC bureaucrat testified ldquoWe are not mandated to create a new program that will fill those gapsrdquo

Critics call that racism A denial of basic human rights for indigenous people living on reserve in Canada

Several weeks after APTNrsquos series aired in 2014 Ottawa dropped its appeal of the Jordanrsquos Principle case Maurina Beadle and her son Jeremyrsquos legal victory stands

But in the year since nothing has

changedOttawa has made no move to fully

implement Jordanrsquos PrincipleIndigenous child welfare advocates are

biding their time The decision from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is im-minent Jordanrsquos Principle is not an issue mainstream society is fully aware of But itrsquos a reality for First Nations families liv-ing in often small remote communities struggling to care for a child with special needs And thatrsquos why itrsquos a crucial story for the media to tell

Tips for covering Indigenous stories 1 Despite commonalities donrsquot

apply a pan-Aboriginal understanding to a particular First Nation Indigenous com-munities are varied both in culture and history

2 Stay and chat share some food Media often sweep in and out in a mad dash to meet crazy deadlines But to gain trust true understanding and gain contacts who will help you on your next storyhelliptake the time Itrsquos worth it

3 File access-to-information re-quests Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada is hardly forthcom-ing with information

4 Have conversations that donrsquot lead to a story Aboriginal organizations and band councils can also resemble Fort Knox when it comes to information Develop a few key off-the-record contacts who you can call Theyrsquoll point you in the right direction

5 One story wonrsquot capture the com-plex realities of life on-reserve One story might paint a chief and council or gov-ernment as the bad guy One story might seem like a fluff piece So tell as many stories as you can on the First Nations in your region

6 Have a sense of humour

Trina Roache is the Halifax Correspon-dent APTN National News She has been with the network for eight years The CAJ prize is her first award You can reach her at(902)292-1911 troacheaptnca or fol-low her on Twitter TrinaRoache

Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists

Patrick Cain Leslie Young Anna Mehler Paperny

Canadarsquos UnwantedGlobalNewsca

Michelle ShephardIn Central African Republic A Lesson In

HateToronto Star

Tanya TalagaAn Afghan boyrsquos lonely trek to freedom

Toronto Star

Carol SandersNowhere to go

Winnipeg Free Press

FIGHTING FOR JEREMY Maurina Beadle and her son Jeremy Meawasige live on the Pictou Landing First Nation NS When Maurina had a stroke in 2010 she needed extra help taking care of Jeremy at home Both the provincial government and Ottawa argued against footing the bill The Pictou landing Band took the Canadian government to court over Jordanrsquos Principle and won in 2013CREDIT APTN


NNA ndash Journalist of the Year Editorial Cartooning

Coming to the aid of a fatally

wounded corporal Nathan Cirillo

Halifax Chronicle Herald

Bruce MacKinnon

On Oct 22 2014 I was in my office working on a cartoon for the next

dayrsquos paper when news broke of a shoot-ing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

I had been sketching out an idea on another issue and not being particularly partial to cartoons on tragedy murder and other such dark subjects my first impulse was keep working on what Irsquod started at least until news reports could paint a clearer picture of what was happening and why

As alerts came in describing a barrage of gunfire inside the Parliament buildings the possibility of multiple shooters gun-men appearing on the roof etc it became clear that this was no small incident and would be the dominant story for days and weeks to come

By the time I realized I had to change gears it was afternoon on the East Coast and there was little time left to think of a concept let alone execute a drawing

The bigger problem though was the story was still so fluid Rumours and speculation were rampant but there was no time to wait for a clear picture or a conclusion to emerge

This really notched up the tension In the absence of known facts the potential is huge for knee-jerk responses and just getting it wrong at a time when more eyes will be on the newspaper than ever

By the time I had started to scratch out ideas there seemed to be only two key confirmed facts

1) An unarmed honour guard had been

fatally shot at the foot of the National War Memorial and

2) Inside the Parliament buildings the Sergeant-at-arms had shot and killed an attacker

I came up with two ideas one essentially painting Kevin Vick-ers the Sergeant-at-arms as the hero of the day and the other depicting the wounded honour guard being aided by the statues of the soldiers on the war monument

I consulted my two closest editors who are also friends and trusted sounding boards When no one could decide which idea to go with I fell back on the reasoning that any established fact would be the wis-est hook on which to hang my comment

I couldnrsquot be cer-tain when the smoke had cleared that the Sergeant-at-arms would actually be the hero I was suggesting he was One thing was certain Nathan Cirillo had been killed while

on duty guarding the war monumentIn the back of my mind the challenge of

drawing a crowd of soldiers coming to life on top of the war monument with so little time left to draw before deadline was a

COMPASSIONATE COMRADES COME TO LIFE Cpl Nathan Cirillo a reservist who was guarding the National War Memorial outside the Par-liament buildings in Ottawa was shot and killed in a terror attack that ended in a shoot-out on Parliament Hill Bruce MacKinnon -- The Chronicle Herald Halifax NS

By Bruce MacKinnon

Apistiant Torempor aut lab ipsum quassundi occus autem a dolore-henis aut quo offic tem volentibus quiasi dolorepuda volland itaquos rem re consequi quiae placcus eum facest autem faceprovit inctur offic-ta que et laccae moluptatem dolore-rum hiliqui denis es estem iduciurTet volorem Imusdaeperum quam il exeri cus alis que dolorrume quid esequis sit am niate perum et molorere diciandae consequam sit hit pa quiatatem aut acestium ut andae nihicto elector ehentia incil minum reptatis aut qui aceatur as et vereproresto bea cus solorpore eic tem Ut opta arum corro es pores ut que simoluptur Quisquo minum eria dist lati dolore eturisti aceate ducillaudae Expelic tiostion earit modipisci con rae As re volorec epeditatur re rehenis nes dolupta-tus niatur re comnimus quia ve-rio Consent volorit experes tiatusAquam que id esequamus andelia epellam ut is doluptatur sandignam qui blabore illam commo magnat essequi doluptam lam quam evel id maio vellam occum qui ipitatus enis mos adiscillab imus consent fugiam quatVendisquia solorer sperae nonsequ aepratem ilignim imi voles si re vo-luptur Quiam erunt quae dolupta-tibus entCiendanti assimpo sandae nectur Tiassunt assin rem que volendio moloreperum experibusConseque sequam elictur si ip-samus aut dolorepta prerrovidis senda ipid que eri odi nim volor-ibus doluptatus doluptur Solore quat venihitati debis sapicimetur aut perrunt aspedis re volliati odis explibus coreicaerum alitium a voluptae Otatur restium alitat laboreptius ipsae aperuptat aut odicipsania doluptatur consectem

quis aliandae Ga Nam quam dolo ent facit omnis eos inullac epeles voloria diaes ullaturEx es iditiberum ad molupti cum ut alita nonsequi dundi nus delessi tes simpellabor andigen delectus asperis denduciam simos modigent quias ent officia dit pore sim seditib usaesedis volore re voluptate sam ulparib earuptat officto eni ium illes sed mo minis reni quam quaspis-cimpe nisciam eius atur apist que ne am haruptatia que solendae nec-tiatur maximintibus que sit vero

Otatquo doles dolorecea pelecta turempo reperchicae Et ut parum quodignatis eum simillique eum se voluptae cullaci pidesse ndeles aliquis erfereius ariatusciet dolupid ute debis quis et quis repudit re repelibusErnati doloribusdam voluptature voluptatenda quatur adiossi to blac-cus anduntMusa dolupta cus officiet faceariam re nonsequ untur sunt quideri bus-cias perspis nesequaepro omnimos et ilit asitio eiusdant mosam

2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS

ONE- AND TWO-YEAR GRADUATE PROGRAMS

UKINGSCAJOURNALISMGRADUATE-ADVANCED

LISA WEIGHTON

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM 09

INTERVIEW IN KAJIADO KENYA

FOR THE DAILY NATION

little daunting But the magnitude of the event com-

bined with the powerful symbolism of the war monument made it too compelling to avoid

The idea of having one of the statues coming to the rescue seemed inescapable to me Cirillo was killed at the base of the National War Memorial with the figures of these historic Canadian soldiers standing over him

Cartoonists are always seeking out sym-bolism and metaphor What do soldiers do when one of their own is injured Theyrsquore trained to come to their aid I wanted to

animate the soldiers to do what they would do naturally for one of their own and also to suggest they were taking Cirillo into the fold

But more than anything it was a conscious effort to reflect a compassion-ate response to the shooting rather than a violent or hateful one

To this day Irsquom still not sure I fully understand the overwhelming reaction to this cartoon though I am grateful that I was able to at least get it right in a stress-ful situation

I am even more grateful the cartoon was able to provide some level

of comfort and consolation to so many people and more importantly provide financial support for the families of the victims through residual sales of prints

That was a unique and tangible benefit that made me feel good about the contin-ued relevance of editorial cartooning in journalism

Bruce MacKinnon has been the Halifax Chronicle Heraldrsquos staff editorial cartoon-ist for 29 years It was his first overall win and fourth NNA win for Editorial Cartooning he has had eight nominations in the category

28 MEDIA

NNA ndash Multimedia Feature and CAJ Marketwired Data Jour-

nalism Award

The Hamilton Spectator uncovered the

connections between standardized test

scores and social and economic factors

Teri Pecoskie

I reported on standardized test scores regularly when I was working the

Hamilton Spectatorrsquos education beat And each time regardless of whether the pass rates went up or down school board of-ficials reacted in much the same way

The scores donrsquot tell the whole story theyrsquod say In fact the numbers alone canrsquot tell you much about a school or school board at all

I guess thatrsquos how Keeping Score started I was tired of being told what the data couldnrsquot tell me and eager to find out what it could

Rather than examining one or even a couple yearsrsquo worth of data I decided to look at several in order to uncover local trends and determine whether the Ontar-iorsquos $31-million annual investment in the assessments is worth it

It is the series shows Particularly be-cause of the testsrsquo power to help educators identify and mitigate damaging inequities in Ontario schools But it took me a while to get there

The project hinged on obtaining at least six years of elementary test results from the Education Quality and Accountability Office an armrsquos-length agency estab-lished by the province to monitor student achievement

That should have been the easy part given the school- and board-level data is published online at the end of every round of testing But it wasnrsquot It took about three months to get the numbers in a for-mat that would allow me to analyze them

My initial plan was to scrape the results from the EQAO website but the way in

which they are embedded in PDF files made that virtually impossible So I ended up filing a formal request with the office instead Then I waited

While I didnrsquot have to submit a free-dom-of-information request mdash something other journalists were forced to resort to when trying to get these numbers mdash I did have to prod A lot That was probably the biggest roadblock I ran up against

When I finally got my hands on the results I mashed them up with socio-economic information obtained from the provincersquos education ministry and mapped them The school-level data was calculated using information from Statistics Canadarsquos 2006 census the Ontario School Informa-tion System which tracks student popu-lation characteristics and postal codes collected by individual schools

The results were shocking Across Hamilton there were massive

differences when it came to achievement and it was happening despite significant investments aimed at leveling the playing field for all kids

Why did those differences continue to exist and what could be done to erase them Thatrsquos what I set out to answer in the project a five-part multimedia series that revealed clear connections between EQAO scores and a range of social and economic factors including health and wealth at more than 140 local elementary schools

It also found Day 2 Why The Difference Huge

disparities in test results at Catholic and public schools across the city and the

province Day 3 The Gender Imbalance A per-

sistent gap in achievement between boys and girls regardless of income and other factors

Day 4 Unlocking Potentials Several schools that defy expectations even when their unique demographics are accounted for

Published in April 2014 Keeping Score in the day-five story The Road Ahead also proposed additional steps that could be taken by elected officials educators and agencies to help both raise the bar and close the gap for all kids They listened

The project along with my daily report-ing on the vast gulf between the cityrsquos have- and have-not schools was a key factor in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Boardrsquos commitment to partner with the city and local agencies on its systemic overhaul My recommendations in Part 5 were also consistent with changes recently announced by the EQAO aimed at tailoring the test to specific learning needs and making the results more accessible to educators

Some of Keeping Scorersquos findings such as the fact that students in more disad-vantaged schools fare poorly on the test compared to their wealthier peers werenrsquot revolutionary What was however were the anomalies it uncovered mdash trends at schools like Adelaide Hoodless which im-proved its average pass rate by more than 60 per cent over six years in spite of the fact that nearly half of its students around three times the provincial average come from low-income families

That was the real beauty of this project It found remarkable patterns in unremark-able scores turning the traditional percep-tion of what it means to be a good school (ie the one with the top pass rates) on its head

A Connection to the Born and Code Red Stories

Keeping Score builds on much of the landmark work The Spectator has done to map health and education outcomes In particular there are connections to the Don McGillivray Award-winning BORN series I produced with Steve Buist which mapped maternal health outcomes in Hamilton and across the province and my Erasing Inequality project which looked at differences in outcomes at local high schools and how they can be mitigated

There are obvious connections to The Spectatorrsquos original Code Red series too (even more so to Buistrsquos follow-up profile about Parkview Secondary School princi-pal Paul Beattie) as well as my Code Red Neighbourhoods project which looked at how at-risk neighbourhoods have chal-lenges highlighted in the initial series

Tip SheetIt wasnrsquot just the numbers that made

Keeping Score powerful It was the people mdash students parents educators and others mdash who were willing to share their experi-ences and expertise For anyone interested in undertaking a similar project I think my single biggest piece of advice would be to avoid losing sight of those voices when yoursquore swimming in data They bring the numbers to life

In fact that pretty much sums up my

approach to data-crunching While itrsquos im-portant mdash even integral mdash to what I do on a day-to-day basis (I use it for everything from generating story ideas to elevating my daily files) I nonetheless see it as a tool a means of telling a story about a person place or event rather than an end

I didnrsquot love education reporting In fact a few months after Keeping Score was published I jumped at a chance to shift to the sports department where Irsquom now writ-ing about hockey (a data geekrsquos dream) Itrsquos important though mdash and not just because education is a multi-billion-dollar public service Itrsquos important because how itrsquos administered and by whom can profound affect a studentrsquos future

In my three years on the beat I spent a lot of time at school board meetings por-ing over minutes and agendas mdash probably more than most of the education reporters who came before me at The Spectator It was boring but it paid off I ended up with a deep understanding of the inner work-ings of Ontariorsquos school systems at the local and provincial level I think educa-tors and administrators respected that ex-pertise It also helped me gain their trust which was invaluable on this beat

So thatrsquos my other piece of advice for education reporters mdash know your stuff because that knowledge will help you build relationships in what is sometimes an insular field

Irsquom happy to chat anytime about educa-tion sports data and other stuff You can find me at tpecoskiethespeccom or on Twitter at TeriattheSpec

A STUDY IN CONCENTRATION A student at Adelaide Hoodless Public School gets down to business PHOTO CREDITS John RennisonThe Hamilton Spectator

NNA FINALISTS

Gabrielle Duchaine and Caroline Touzin Montreal La Presse for a three-part

interactive look at crime in all its facets in Quebec and Montreal

httpwwwnna-ccjcafinalists

Toronto Star team for coverage com-memorating the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War including a

walk of the Western Fronthttpwwwthestarcomnewsworldww1

html

CAJ FINALISTS

Steven RennieMeet the fire hydrant that makes Toronto

the most money from parking ticketsThe Canadian Press

Patrick CainHerersquos the sex offender map Ontario

didnrsquot want you to seeGlobalNewsca

Robert Cribb Matthew ColeTainted waterToronto Star

Christine Bennett Heather Brimicombe Emma Davie Catharina de Waal Ian Froese Matt Gray Nicolas Haddad

Braeden Jones Dave Lostracco Kendra Lovegrove Shannon MacDonald Megan

Marrelli Erin McCabe Helen Pike Kelsey Power Kristie Smith JesseWard

BurnedUniversity of Kingrsquos College The Chronicle Herald Halifax NS



NNA ndash Sports

ldquoTwo Teams Two Dreamsrdquo

Toronto Star

(Left to right) Jim Coyle Paul Hunter Jim Rankin Steve Russell

By Jim Coyle

Like most guys who grew up in Canada Paul Hunter and Jim

Rankin were of the view that nothing beats a road trip

Then the Toronto Star journalists met the Brampton Beast

Hunter and Rankin were part of a Star team that won the 2014 National News-paper Award for Sportswriting They chronicled the life and times of the semi-pro Beast a team in the Central Hockey League two levels below the NHL and a world away from its glamour

Their colleagues Jim Coyle and Steve Russell meanwhile reported on the return to North Bay of an Ontario Hockey League franchise and what that meant economically and socially to a small city of 55000 that had lost its team a dozen years earlier

Together in the Star series ldquoTwo Teams Two Dreamsrdquo the reporters and photo-journalists tried to capture what hockey means in Canada far from the bright lights and big cities of the NHL

If as the saying goes Canada is hockey they reckoned that it was so in its truest sense where the game is loved most and played hardest by those on the way up or on the way down

For Hunter and Rankin in particular the assignment was a bone-rattling eye-opener

They travelled with the Beast a team of dreamers in a league where the players are older the pay is poor and the miles are long to Moline Ill in the American MidWest

ldquoIt was a hell of a road trip involving

two overnight blizzardsrdquo photojournalist Rankin recalled

ldquoWe were on a sleeper bus the kind reserved for rock stars but I donrsquot know how anyone could ever sleep through the white-knuckle conditions we experienced

ldquoYoursquore confined to a narrow bunk and they are stacked three high You had a tiny window if you were lucky I chose to lie with my feet facing the front of the bus thinking that in the event of a sudden stop Irsquod fly onto the Interstate feet first

ldquoOn the first sleepless night I remem-ber hearing the coach whisper to the bus driver ldquoChris whatrsquos wrongrdquo

ldquoWersquod come to a stop in the middle of nowhere and the driver simply replied ldquoI canrsquot seerdquo

It got their attentionAs 26-year-old winger Scott Howes an

experienced road tripper told the Star ldquoI dread the bus But itrsquos one of those things If you want to play you have to do itrdquo

In many ways the two Star teams were engaged in the most old-fashioned of journalism getting to know the cast of characters seeking to understand and de-scribe their dreams and motivations trying to convey mood scene meaning mining the ordinary subject matter of hockey and then turning it into a story of love com-mitment pride and aspiration

To the writers Hunter and Coyle that meant paying attention filling notebooks with small observed detail with a playerrsquos succinct but telling quip seeking the piv-otal vignette that speaks volumes

The award-winning series was born in one of the famous Star features meetings

run by former editor Alison Uncles now with Macleanrsquos magazine

Uncles has a reputation as a one-woman idea machine an editor who when shersquos not proposing stories of her own can take a reporterrsquos vague notion and see in an instant what the finished product might look like fully imagined in the newspaper or on-line

At one meeting Coyle -- who had worked decades earlier at CP with North Bay Battalion owner Scott Abbott before the former sports reporter made a fortune inventing Trivial Pursuit -- suggested the return of OHL hockey to North Bay with the transfer of the team from Brampton might make a good story

Hunter a hockey Dad and former Star sports reporter chimed in that the void left in Brampton when the Battalion left for North Bay had been filled by the semi-pro Beast and a look at that squad might provide a nice bookend to Coylersquos idea

Uncles reacted as she always did when an idea struck her fancy

ldquoOh my gosh we have to do itrdquo she enthused

She immediately hit on the ldquoTwo Teams Two Dreamsrdquo packaging

She wanted Coyle to go beyond hockey and talk to local business owners politi-cal and community leaders the fan on the street about the impact of a Junior A team on the economy young people community morale

From Hunter and Rankin she hoped for a collective plumbing of the psyche of men who had a quixotic Canadian dream of maybe making it against all odds to

the NHLJournalists often say there are some

assignments that are so much fun they almost feel guilty taking a paycheque (Almost) And this was one of them

For Hunter and Rankin on the Beast bus their subject was contained close at hand conditions intimate

For Coyle and Russell in North Bay it meant covering a story that had involved and excited an entire city

It meant getting to know the town its business people its hockey eccentrics It meant learning the local power-brokers ndash the Liberals the Conservatives who had put aside political differences to collabo-rate on winning the franchise in renovat-ing the local rink and in putting a first-rate product on the ice

The Star staffers found a hockey-happy town that had its heart warmed by a bunch of teenage players through one of the cold-est winters in recent times

Together Alison Uncles and her team produced a deeply reported package that offered a close-up look at hockey as it is lived by players and experienced by com-munities all across Canada

Whatever the price of playing ndash or supporting ndash the game they love it seems Canadians are usually willing to pay it

Besides as the veterans assured Rankin and Hunter their slippery trip aboard the Beast bus through the snowy night of the US hinterland was nothing too tough

ldquoWhen yoursquove been on the road as long as we have and seen some of the horror stories wersquove gone throughrdquo said assistant coach Brent Hughes ldquoThis is a breezerdquo

Tip sheet1) Our minor sports are woefully under-

covered The same sort of Shakespearean elements ndash the thrill of victory agony

of defeat cruel twists of fate untimely goalposts etc ndash occur at all levels and are there for the telling The human emotion and reaction are the same even if the stakes arenrsquot as rich or the arenas as big

A couple of journalism truisms are that (a) the best stories come from the losing dressing room not the winning and (b) the key to a story or photo is often the thing or person on the periphery on the edge of the spotlight just off-centre These axioms were at play in this series

We were conscious that the very thing that might give it some appeal to the NNA judges was that it was a bit off the beaten path that it was small-time and minor league

We figured obscurity played to our

advantage And we knew that obscurity notwithstanding all the elements to make an evocative story were there

2) The writing tips I give students have remained the same for years

There are no shortcuts You have to read -- a lot And you have to write -- a lot

Most people think that because they can speak English they should be able to write it

To me thatrsquos like saying because I can hum Bruce Springsteen I should be able to pick up a guitar and play his songs But it doesnrsquot work that way

It takes a lot of practice to master an instrument sufficiently to get the music in your heart and soul for others to under-stand and enjoy Itrsquos the same with writing It takes practice to be able to identify your feelings gather your ideas and express them with force and clarity

All of the above explains why so many students are dissatisfied and give up after a first or second draft because it doesnrsquot sound right

I tell them that even after 35 years I never send a first draft to the Star I rewrite top to bottom 10 20 30 times

lsquoCoz as Hemingway said the hard part of this biz is getting the words right

Jim Coyle joined the Toronto Star in 1997 Before that he was a provincial affairs columnist for the Ottawa Citizen for seven years and enjoyed a 12-year stint at The Canadian Press where he chiefly worked at Queenrsquos Park and on Parliament Hill Coyle has written The Quiet Evolution How Dalton McGuinty Changed Ontario ndash and Why He Resigned The exclusive Star Dispatches eRead is available in the Star Store (starstoreca) You can reach Jim at 416-869-4967

BATTLING FOR THE PUCK Matt Boyd of the Quad City Mallards give the Beastrsquos Jamie ldquoJimrdquo VanderVeeken a close shave in the third period of the final of two road games PHOTO CREDIT Jim RankinToronto Star

LETrsquoS PLAY Brendan OrsquoNeill starts for the Battalion PHOTO CREDIT Steve RussellToronto Star

Finalists

Gabriel Beacuteland Montreal La Presse for stories on the consequences of a concus-sion on a minor league hockey player a triple-A midget team opening its locker room to seven First Nation players and how a soldier wounded in Afghanistan

kept a hold on life through hockeyhttpwwwlapressecasports

hockey2014092001-4802038-a-13-ans-brise-par-le-hockeyphp

Joe OrsquoConnor National Post for his coverage of an African-American inner-

city high school football team and its white coach a story about race relations in America that needed to be heard above

the roar of Fergusonhttpwwwkalturacomindexphpex-twidgetpreviewpartner_id1698541

uiconf_id8704822entry_id0_p8hw4rz5embedlegacy

32 MEDIA 2015 AWARD EDITION 33

For exclusive content stories interviews about journalism turn to Media

Visit

httpwwwcajcamedia-magazine-archives

Issues date back to the spring of 1998

NNA ndash Investigations and CAJ Open Media category

I sat at the living room table across from Ed Huard a heavily tattooed

guy with wary eyes who had once huddled in the trunk of a car clutching a sawed-off shot gun waiting to kill another man

In tracking down Huard I thought I had landed a key interview for my investiga-tive story about Jeremy Hall a former colleague of Huardrsquos Hall was a Hamilton career criminal sentenced to life in prison for murdering a man named Billy Mason as revenge over a drug deal gone wrong then burning Masonrsquos body and stuffing the ashes in farm animal feedbags

But as I cracked open my notebook at the table and turned on my tape recorder Huardrsquos first words to me were ldquoSo whatrsquos in it for merdquo

Whatrsquos in it for him He wanted to get paid Of course he did I thought repri-manding myself for not anticipating this

I knew my answer would make or break my pipeline to Ed Huard and thus a key source into what makes Jeremy Hall tick

This meeting with Huard in the summer of 2013 was one early hurdle I had to clear in my investigation into a story that ultimately became a seven-part series in The Hamilton Spectator called ldquoRemorse-lessrdquo about the life and crimes of Hall

Earlier that year Spec editor-in-chief Paul Berton had called me into his office to pitch the Hall story to me Hall was well-known to readers from our cover-age of his first-degree murder trial I had written a number of series in the past that detailed homicide investigations but Paul wanted the focus entirely on the killer and how he came to exist in our midst

There were several challenges

One Hamiltonrsquos Police Chief is to put it mildly not media-friendly He told his officers not to meet with me for any rea-son much less to discuss Hall

Two I wrote Jeremy Hall a letter and he agreed to a jailhouse interview but the warden refused to let me see him

Three a lawyer (not Hallrsquos) warned me early on about ldquotaking on Hallrdquo in a story because the lawyer said Hall was still dangerous even from prison That got me thinking about whether my personal safety was at issue I tackled this last obstacle by speaking at length with my supervising editor Cheryl Stepan who was as usual completely supportive of my concerns and also with a Crown attorney and a detective who had faced off against Hall years ago I came to believe that having journalists murdered was almost certainly not Hallrsquos thing

As for the other obstacles Active Hamilton Police officers would not go on the record with me but a couple of retired cops no longer under the chiefrsquos wing and who investigated Hall helped me considerably One officer drove me out to the scene in a remote country field where Hall shot Mason and I used colour from that scene to lead the series

I mined court transcripts and critically combed through documents at the Court of Appeal in Toronto to write dialogue and detail the investigation I landed interviews with all three lawyers on Hallrsquos defence team and both Crown attorneys who prosecuted even though they were all initially and understandably reticent

Most importantly I was able to access Hallrsquos views from jail even though the

warden had turned me down by submit-ting written questions to Hall which he answered in impressive detail laced with his trademark cursing For the first time ever Jeremy Hall who never testified in court told of his crimes and childhood and I was able to capture his voice in an unvarnished portrait of his life

As for the afternoon that Ed Huard Hallrsquos one-time would-be hit-man (he never did pull the trigger) asked ldquowhatrsquos in it for merdquo I chose my words in re-sponse to him carefully

ldquoNothing is in it for yourdquo I said to him ldquoExcept telling the truthrdquo

I told him the Spectator does not pay for interviews but that he had already told the truth in court testifying against Hall and I hoped he would do it for me as well so I could write a detailed and accurate story I left the ball in his hands that day He called me a few days later and said he would do it we scheduled a second meet-ing and he gave a terrific interview

The seriesrsquo title came from a question I submitted to Hall about one of his many tattoos Why did he have one that read ldquoremorselessrdquo Hall replied that a judge had called him remorseless to his face in court years ago over an assault charge A transcript I read confirmed it So Hall got that tattoo as if to say you want to see remorseless Here it is right on my skin So the series title became Remorseless because Jeremy Hall was and was not remorseless for all that he had done A life even a criminal and murderous life like Hallrsquos is never black and white

Some readers in the community were offended by the series thinking it sympa-

thetic to Hall But Remorseless was not a sympathetic portrayal it was I believe a brutally honest one I received an angry phone call from a reader after the series ran who felt it was unjust to the victim Billy Mason that the story was all about his killer I understood her point of view and calls like that are hard to take In the end I was proud of the story and was glad when it was over The series won a CAJ Award in investigations and also a National Newspaper Award in the same category The recognition felt gratifying although I never set out to write a story with an award in mind

Tip SheetOne always look for alternative sources

when roadblocks are in your way people documents geographic scenes

There are many ways to gather detail even when it looks like yoursquove got noth-ing

Two be patient with sources That is be aggressive when necessary but try to let them come to you If they want to talk they will If they refuse donrsquot dwell on it find a way around it seek other voices donrsquot stop gathering or thinking about ways into your story

Jon Wells writes feature stories for The Hamilton Spectator and has had seven books published the most recent ldquoDeathrsquos Shadowrdquo (Dundurn) Hersquos a graduate of Western University (Political Science) and Carleton University (Masters Journalism)

A BRUTAL MURDER Jeremy Hall was a Hamilton career criminal sentenced to life in prison for murdering a man named Billy Mason (pictured above) as revenge over a drug deal gone wrong then burning Masonrsquos body and stuffing the ashes in farm animal feedbagsPHOTO CREDIT Special to The Hamilton Spectator

WEIGHING THE DANGER A lawyer warned me early on about ldquotaking on (Jeremy) Hallrdquo in a story because he was still dangerous even from prison That got me thinking about whether my personal safety was at issue I came to believe that having journalists mur-dered was almost certainly not Hallrsquos thingPHOTO CREDIT Special to The Hamilton Spectator

NNA finalists

FINALISTS Kevin Donovan Jesse Brown and Jacques Gallant Toronto Star for their investigation of allega-tions of sexual assault by CBC Host

Jian Ghomeshi

Katia Gagnon Montreal La Presse for her investigation into the permis-siveness on the part of general practi-tioners and pharmacists in dispensing

morphine

Jennifer OrsquoBrien Kate Dubinski Randy Richmond Derek Ruttan and Jonathan Sher London Free Press

for peeling back the layers of a group home fire story to reveal a shocking neglect of mentally ill residents in

Ontariohttpwwwnna-ccjcafinalists

CAJ finalists

Keith GereinCondition CriticalEdmonton Journal

Robert CribbPresumed Guilty

Toronto Star

Marco Chown OvedMining and International Aid

Toronto Star R James Traers Inter-national Corresponding Fellowship

Jayme Poisson Emily Mathieu Randy Risling

Sexual Assault on Canadian Cam-puses

Toronto Star

NNA ndash Investigations and CAJ Open Media categoryInvestigative category Remorseless

The Hamilton Spectator

Jon Wells


NNA ndash Explanatory Work

For ldquo34 Hours While He Waitedrdquo study of racism in

Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason

How could someone die in the wait-ing room of Winnipegrsquos busiest

hospital emergency department How could someone sit there for 34 hours with-out receiving treatment

And how could someone be dead there for up to seven hours without anyone noticing

Those were just some of the questions I had when I was assigned to cover the months-long inquest examining the death of Brian Sinclair at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg in Sept 2008

While my daily coverage focused on the witnesses who were testifying during the inquest I also had the opportunity to look deeper into what happened This resulted in the writing of the feature 34 Hours While He Waited

The inquest found that Sinclair died of a treatable bladder infection caused by a blocked urinary catheter He had been dead for so long that when doctors tried to revive him they found that rigor mortis was already setting in Video evidence was played at the inquest which showed Sin-clair arrive at emergency talk briefly to a triage aide who scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then go into the waiting area of the emergency department

where except for a brief period when he rolled his wheelchair past the triage desk looking like he was trying to figure out why somebody else had been called before him he spent the next 34 hours

The video also showed that Sinclair sat in his wheelchair where numerous people both hospital staff and patients walked back and forth whether to go to the wash-room get a snack or go to the main area of the hospital

Irsquove said before that when I first went to the inquest all I knew about Sinclair was that he was aboriginal had lost both his legs to severe frostbite the year before his death so he used a wheelchair to get around He was homeless He had died without getting lifesaving treatment at the Health Sciences Centre

But within the first few minutes of the inquest beginning I was surprised to learn I was wrong about one thing Sinclair was not homeless In fact not only was he under the supervision of the provincersquos Public Trusteersquos Office but he had also been living for months in a personal care facility funded by the province

Where did we and our readers learn Sin-clair was homeless Spokespeople for the hospital announced this in the days follow-

ing Sinclairrsquos death and it was a mistake that has continued to be repeated by Win-nipeggers and media outlets ndash including on occasion my own ndash in the years since And itrsquos a mistake that fuels a perception with many people that somehow Sinclairrsquos death was caused in part by himself

During the days weeks and months of the inquest ndash and before the judge came out with his final report ndash I began wondering about the 199 other patients who passed through the same emergency room doors that Sinclair went through but who did receive treatment A few of those patients testified at the inquest but their evidence focused mostly on the questions of lsquodid you see Sinclair and what did you see happening around himrsquo I wanted to find out more about what treatment they received while Sinclair sat in his wheel-chair in the departmentrsquos waiting room and whether those illnesses were so critical or time-consuming that it resulted in Sinclair being missed

Irsquove covered court cases numerous times ndash I was once the Free Pressrsquo courts reporter ndash and I know the best way to fully cover a case whether itrsquos a murder trial or an inquest is to be there full-time

But I also know thatrsquos a luxury and even

more so when wersquore in a time of declining numbers of staff due to cutbacks It has become tougher for newspapers to take a reporter out of the mix to cover one story full-time Thankfully my editors at the Free Press decided we would cover the inquest daily

Through the days and weeks of tweet-ing writing short stories for our website and longer stories for the newspaper and as I learned about what happened during the weekend Sinclair was there I began thinking about why others received care while Sinclair did not

Yes there were some days where the stories werenrsquot as dramatic as other days but it was only by sitting there daily that the pieces of my explanatory feature began coming together

I had noticed that the Crown attorneys would always introduce a witness who had been a patient there by looking at a document and verifying the time they arrived at the hospital and when they left A few times the document appeared to be used to verify why the patient was there

It was this lengthy document dozens of pages long and one which I only received after having to make a formal request to the inquest judge himself That document formed the foundation for my story Much of the feature was taking these pages filled with raw information and statistics and distilling it into what I hoped was a reader-friendly story along with a timeline to show what was happening in the emer-gency room while Sinclair was there I also added in the comments of the patients or family members who were there at the time and who saw Sinclair as well as commentary by emergency room experts

The feature explored issues of bed

shortages in the hospital Issues of patient flow The patients who take up beds when they should be in long-term care facilities The allegations of racism in the emergen-cy room The perception that a person like Sinclair would only be in the waiting room not for care but because it was a safe place to get off the street and go to sleep

The Winnipeg Regional Health Author-ity implemented changes in the days and weeks after Sinclairrsquos death

The inquest judge came up with 63 rec-ommendations which the Health Sciences Centre and the provincial government continue to implement

The hope is that through my story that our readers ndash and medical and government officials ndash could get a better idea what was going on during the 34 hours Sinclair was in the waiting room and see why changes needed to be made

Tip SheetFor those reporters not able to cover an

inquest or a court hearing on a daily basis it becomes essential to build up sources and have good relations with all of the players involved

You also need to get contact informa-tion So make sure you speak with the Crown attorneys the defence counsels and the lawyers representing the hospitals nursing unions and indigenous organiza-tions

Also make contact with the surviving family members who may only be there on the opening day of the inquest or sporadi-cally through the months These are all people who can help you decide whether to cover the dayrsquos hearings by letting you know which witnesses are coming on a given day and what they are expected to say

Kevin Rollason is a reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press He graduated from the University of Windsorrsquos communi-cation studies program and received a Master of Journalism degree from Western University Kevin has been at the Free Press since 1988 Before that after gradu-ation he was with the Winnipeg Sun from 1985 to 1988 He has covered the law courts city hall and also specialized in health aviation and philanthropic issues He can be reached at Kevinrollasonfreepressmbca

THE FORGOTTEN MAN Robert Sinclair holds a portrait of his first cousin Brian Sinclair at a news conference after Provin-cial court Judge Ray Wyant said in a ruling that the legal aid rate which the government has offered to the family to date is inad-equate for their participation in an inquest that will be lengthy and complicated Brian Sinclair a disabled aboriginal man died in Sept 2008 after waiting 34 hours in the emergency room of the Health Sciences Centre PHOTO CREDIT WAYNE GLOWACKIWinnipeg Free Press

Finalists

Josh Wingrove and Chris Hannay The Globe and Mail for their expla-nation of Bill C-23 the Fair Elec-

tions Act which changes the rules for voters candidates parties and the people whose job it is to make sure

elections are fairhttpwwwtheglobeandmailcomnewspoliticsfair-elections-actar-

ticle17648947

Marie-Claude Malboeuf Montreal La Presse for her examination of the hidden marketplace within the web

often called ldquothe deep webrdquoMarie-Claude Malboeuf httprecherchelapre-

ssecacyberpressesearchthemelapressefq[]=facet_authorMarie-

Claude+Malboeuf

NNAndash Beat Reporting

For coverage of crime

Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan

As the Vancouver Sunrsquos crime re-porter I won a National Newspaper

Award in the `Beatsrsquo Category That means I entered a portfolio of five stories that I worked on at different points in the year

Itrsquos always a challenge when you write hundreds of stories on a beat to decide what ndash if anything ndash is worthy of entering come awards season I decided to select stories that represented a wide range of what I covered in 2014

Two of the stories came out of my coverage of the historic `Surrey Sixrsquo trial where members of a gang called the Red Scorpions were prosecuted for six 2007 murders including the deaths of two in-nocent bystanders

I included an investigative feature written before the verdict in which I documented how many people whose names were referenced during the trial had died violently I was able to draw on my knowledge of the local gang scene to expand on the passing references during the trial and to show how much more widespread the violence was than the Sur-rey Six murders

I also entered the story I wrote on ver-dict day which was more of an analysis of the verdict and what had persuaded the judge to convict the two accused on all counts

I decided I needed to show the judges deadline work as well so included a story about a police officer charged with murder after shooting an armed suspect during an Emergency Response Team take-down

And the final two stories were investiga-tive and revealed that Mexican cartels sent point people to Metro Vancouver to broker major deals with local gangs I managed to dig up a lot of documentation proving this was happening

How I got themI was lucky enough to attend the Surrey

Six trial every day it sat over an entire year I tweeted the trial in live time I wrote a couple of stories each day But I still had a lot of additional information and material that I wanted to expand on

Given that it was a judge-alone trial I could do interviews and dig up informa-tion related to what I was hearing in court without jeopardizing the fair-trial rights of the accused I was struck by the number of names that came out in passing that I knew from my beat coverage were people who had died violently Sometimes only

a nickname was mentioned but I jotted them all down and cross-referenced them with other gang files I had and wrote the first feature The Sun ran it just before the verdict

My verdict story was written after a really long day I had already filed two or three earlier versions when the desk asked me for something fresh I honestly was so tired that I was going to say no But I stepped back and reflected on the whole trial and it struck me that the only reason these gangsters were convicted was because their former associates had turned on them So thatrsquos what I wrote

The story I wrote about the Delta cop charged with murder was really just a typical breaking story where you try to find out as much as you can and write it all up on deadline What distinguished that story from others was that I was able to determine that he was the first officer in BC charged with murder in decades and that all the other cases had collapsed Interestingly the charge was stayed a few months later

The final two beat stories on the cartels took me weeks to pull together I had seen a reference in a Vancouver court file about a local guy named Ariel Savein being ex-tradited to the US in a money laundering case That piqued my interest

So I went into the US court database and starting pulling files So much of the material was sealed that I really had to go on a fishing expedition pulling related cases or only using file numbers to see if I could find more documents

It was really fun digging I also talked to police and gang sources and was able to get copies of the transcripts of interviews with some of the Mexicans who had been arrested here

The obstacles The main obstacle that I encountered

really impacts all beat reporters ndash time management I get so many tips and could spend all my time doing investigative or enterprise stories But I also have to cover daily stories in order to properly work my beat So striking the right balance is a challenge

With my Surrey Six features I would make notes of interesting things in court that I wanted to follow up on I kept files and I grabbed police and prosecutors in the hallways to check on things that I felt warranted more coverage Then when there was a break in the trial I scrambled to get the bigger stories done

I had more challenges with my cartel stories I received some pretty nasty calls and emails trying to stop me from expos-ing some people who were involved in the cases

That was unpleasant Some cops were also trying to shut me down as I was try-ing to get more information But others really came through for me which was great Managing the volume of material and all the names was also an obstacle But I came up with systems to narrow the material I was using to those with a definite Vancouver link

Tip SheetNever limit yourself to the assignments

that are handed to you on a daily basis Even if yoursquore a general assignment re-porter try to find time in your schedule to go after enterprise or investigative stories

or even just interesting featuresDevelop systems for managing informa-

tion interviews and documents on longer-term projects Create a timeline so you can take advantage of breaks in daily coverage to dig into something deeper

Talk to other reporters Sometimes working with a partner allows you to com-plete an investigation faster with a better story resulting from the collaboration

Never overlook the sources that are right there in front of you I can find something in a court ruling or document that isnrsquot meaningful to other reporters because Irsquove had the advantage of being on my beat for a long time

Kim Bolan covers gangs terrorism drugs and justice for The Vancovuer Sun This is her second NNA win The first was for her coverage of Robert Pickton Bolan has been on the front lines of BC crime coverage stretching all the way back to the 1985 Air India bombing

In 2014 she covered the trial and ver-dict for the 2007 Surrey Six murder case as well as a two-part series on Mexican cartels setting up shop in BC Bolan also writes a popular blog called The Real Scoop and can be reached at 604-219-5740 or kbolanvancouversuncom

STORY LINKS

Surrey Six story links1)httpwwwvancouversuncom

newsSurrey+2007+slaughter+sparked+vicious+gang+bodies+still+pili

ng10250010storyhtml

2) httpwwwvancouversuncommo-bilestoryhtmlid=10256128

Cop storyhttpwwwvancouversuncomnewsDelta+police+officer+charged+with+murder+after+2012+Starlight+Casino

+standoff10308119storyhtml

Cartel stories1) httpwwwvancouversuncom

newsCartel+connection+Mexico+drug+gangs+shop+Vancouver10461724

storyhtml2) httpwwwvancouversuncom

newsCartel+Connection+part+Dirty+money+successful+sting10465070

storyhtml


FINALISTS

The Globe and Mail Josh Wingrove Steven Chase Ann Hui Joe Friesen and Ian Brown for capturing the drama of the shooting

on Parliament Hill

Moncton Times amp Transcript A team of journalists for coverage of the shooting rampage that left

three RCMP officers dead and two wounded

Montreal La Presse A team of journalists for coverage of the deliberate ramming of two

Canadian Forces soldiers in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu


GRIEVING HER LOSS Eileen Mohan is the mother of Chris Mohan one of two innocent bystanders killed in a Surrey high rise She supports a police crackdown on gangs PHOTO CREDIT Mark van ManenVancouver Sun

NNA ndash Short Feature

For a reappraisal of what it was like

to be a woman reporting on the

Polytechnique massacre

Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page

When my reporting on the largest mass murder of women in Cana-

dian history garnered congratulations from my male editors and male colleagues it should have been a red flag that I had failed on many counts

If I wasnrsquot making readers especially men feel uncomfortable about the misog-yny-fuelled slaughter then my choice of adjectives and imagery interviews and omissions were constructed in a way that did not challenge the prevailing societal script about the place of women in our society or expose the sexist continuum that made women targets of rape assault and murder and kept them out of leader-ship roles in newsrooms and engineering schools and beyond

But that insight is hindsight ndash twenty-five yearsrsquo worth

On Dec 6 1989 I was a young reporter sent by my then-employer the Toronto Star to cover the massacre at LrsquoEcole Polytechnique in Montreal For six days I wrote about the killer the victims and the grieving family I shied away from interviewing so-called angry feminists At the time their place in mainstream media was uncertain

As the 25th anniversary approached I pitched a piece to a Star editor suggest-ing I revisit the event When I did not hear back I offered a piece to the Ottawa Citizen where I had worked for 22 years before taking the buyout in 2012 to work in the non-profit sector Editor Andrew

Potter commissioned the piece As I re-read archived stories and the

analysis by academics I started to re-evaluate who Irsquod interviewed and who Irsquod excluded all those years ago along with the phrases Irsquod chosen to describe the mur-dered women and how Irsquod steered clear of any truly outraged women I watched a 1995 film Reframing the Montreal Mas-sacre A media interrogation by Maureen Bradley now a professor at the University of Victoria who asserted that the main-stream media had silenced so-called lsquoan-gry feministsrsquo and used ldquosocial gatekeep-ingrdquo to make the story more palatable

It was an lsquoaharsquo moment for me Irsquod done exactly that whether subconsciously or to get a pat on the head from my male edi-tors In my remembrance on Dec 6 2014 I confessed

ldquoI fear I sanitized the event of its femi-nist anger and then infantilized and dimin-ished the victims turning them from elite engineering students whorsquod fought for a place among men into teddy-bear loving daughters sisters and girlfriends

ldquoMy reporting was no doubt coloured by the response I got from male editors mdashand I had only male editorsmdashwhen I pitched stories on womenrsquos issues (not exactly front-page news in the 1980s) and by the way Irsquod had to negotiate minefields of gender politics just to get hired I felt lucky to have been sent to cover the trag-edy at allrdquo

I also reflected on how Barbara Frum

one of Canadarsquos most respected journal-ists refused to admit on CBCrsquos The Jour-nal that the massacre was indeed an act of violence toward women

ldquoWhy do we diminish it by suggesting that it was an act against just one grouprdquo Frum asked on CBCrsquos The Journal follow-ing the slaughter

ldquoIf it was 14 men would we be hav-ing vigils Isnrsquot violence the monstrosity hererdquo

I wrote ldquoShe refused to even utter the word feminist But then her neutralizing of feminist anger must have resonated and perhaps was reflexive Maureen Brad-ley in her documentary wondered about Frumrsquos stance ldquoWas it necessary to deny any shred of feminism in herself in order to get where she was in this bureaucratic media institution boysrsquo clubrdquorsquo

Thatrsquos such a provocative question as much today as it was 25 years ago As female journalistsmdashstill the odd ducks at the morning news meetings and a rarity on mastheads and in exec producer chairsmdashwhat do we keep to ourselves for fear of seeming lsquouppityrsquo lsquono funrsquo or lsquoshrillrdquo And how does our reticence silence and complicity impact how we cover stories then And now

And what price do we pay if we are our authentic selves in pursuit of the news Just as Jill Abramson former executive editor of the New York Times who was unceremoniously sacked in early 2015 for a dispute over salary inequities ingrained

sexism or bothVivian Smithrsquos recent book Outsiders

Still Why Women Journalists Lovemdashand LeavemdashTheir Newspaper Careers (University of Toronto Press 2015) is an examination of that Smith notes that women account for only about one third of editorial workers in Canadian newspapers Only four of the countryrsquos top 25 papers had women editors-in-chief in 2014 But I digress

In order to write the remembrance I re-evaluated everything Irsquod written includ-ing a sentence Irsquod crafted with particular pride

ldquoThey stood crying before the coffins of strangers offering roses and tiger lilies to young women they never knewrdquo

In hindsight it showed everything that was wrong with how I covered the event I wrote in my remembrance

ldquoI turned the dead engineering students into sleeping beauties who received flow-ers from potential suitors I should have referred to the buildings they wouldnrsquot design the machines they wouldnrsquot create and the products never imaginedrdquo

After my article ran in the Citizen I heard from hundreds of journalists both

female and male female engineers and engineering students

Among them was Wendy Gentleman an associate professor in the faculty of En-gineering at Dalhousie University whorsquod contacted me after my Dec 6 2014 piece ran At the time of the massacre she was a first-year engineering undergraduate at McGill University She gives a lecture about the massacre every Dec 6

In a letter of support for my piece she wrote ldquoI hadnrsquot appreciated that I mdash as a reader mdash was doing what she [Ms Page] mdash as the writer mdash had subconsciously

done let years of subtle societal condition-ing sanitize our reactions and discussionsrdquo

She added ldquoFor my part in maintain-ing de-sanitized discussions on these topics I have chosen to share Ms Pagersquos piece with my engineering students and to quote verbatim from her profoundly affecting closing commentary in my De-cember 6th ceremony presentationrdquo

On a personal note my teenage daugh-ter went to an engineering camp this past summer and is considering studying engi-neering at university

After my piece appeared I was dis-mayed to hear from so many female engi-neers who said their faculties and places of work are still unwelcoming to women

For the sake of my daughter and her cohort I hope the doors at the top open wider whether they decide to become engineers mdash or journalists

Shelley Page was a journalist for 27 years before joining a global non-profit organization as Strategic Communications Director and Executive Editor She is co-writing a documentary Talent Untapped on people with disabilities in the work-force

(From left to right) Anne-Marie Edward Anne-Marie Lemay An-nie St-Arnaud Annie Turcotte Barbara Daigneault Barbara Lkuc-znik Geneviegraveve Bergeron Helen Colgan Maryse Laganiegravere Maryse Leclair Maud Haviernick Michegravele Richard Nathalie Croteau Sonia PelletierPHOTO CREDITS Ecole Polytechnique


Finalists

Michegravele Ouimet Montreal La Presse for an intimate portrait of a former municipal politician stricken with

cancer

Michelle Shephard Toronto Star for shedding light on the ongoing tragedy

that is Somalia


NNA ndash Sports Photography

Toronto Sun

For capturing the desperation of a

tennis player trying to get the ball

over the net

Stan Behal

I knew it was going to be a good match at the Rogers Cup but I had no idea

just how good it was going to beNovak Djokovic ranked world No 1

in menrsquos singles tennis was playing Gaeumll Seacutebastien Monfils who was reaching a career-high singles ranking 7th in the world

Professional tennis is a sport I truly love to cover and have played all my life

These days as newspaper photogra-phers are being asked to be take on more responsibilities as multi-media journalists the opportunity to deliver quality content and concentrate on onersquos preferred skill diminishes greatly

Because of licensing agreements professional sports restricts what we can focus on So actual events provide sports photographers with opportunities to focus on their craft chances that rarely exist in our day-to-day jobs

Tennis has everything speed strength and agility For me the sport has always exciting to shoot

The technology has changed dramatical-ly since the first matches I photographed as a spectator at the Canadian Open watching Bjorn Borg John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors

They were playing with wooden Dunlop

Maxply and Donnay tennis racquets My camerarsquos technology was extremely primitive with a strictly manual focus

With current autofocus and exposure and 14 frame-per-second bursts the task of capturing award-winners is easier than it used to be

However the photographer must still have good timing proper framing persis-tence focus -- and luck

When I attempt to capture the ball on the end of the racquet being compressed by an incredibly powerful swing I often shoot single frame and not try to rely on the speed of the camera to catch that split second of action because often even with 14 frames per second the best action is between frames

Early in the match I spent a few min-utes on each player single-framing action and attempting to capture that predictable peak tennis action shot

I then settled in with the camera set to multiple frames to watch and hopefully capture some great tennis

As tempting as it was to stop photo-graphing and watch I rarely took my eye from the back of the camera for fear of missing an unpredictable photographic opportunity

I primarily chose to watch Monfils who

is known for his passion acrobatics and unpredictability on court

Then the moment came Djokovic drilled a great passing shot

that Monfils knew he couldnrsquot reach So out of desperation or for fun he lunged at the ball in my direction stretched his hand and tossed his racquet at the ball I shot a burst of frames

Amazingly the racquet hit the ball which flew back over the net

The outcome was predictable Djokovic easily returned the shot to a

racketless opponent and then went on to win the match

Only one of my frames was sharp For-tunately it had all the elements the ball the racquet in mid-air his outstretched hand his fabulous intense expression and his flying hair

The best shot that day and maybe that year did not come from covering the win-ner

In addition to his 2014 NNA for sports photography Stan Behal won the 1988 National Newspaper Award -Sports Photography for Ben Wins Gold in Seoul Korea and the 1996 National Press Pho-tographers Association award for lsquoGail-Force Winrsquo (Gail Devers Wins Gold in Atlanta USA)

THE DESPERATE LUNGE Gael Monfils (FRA) dives desperately for the ball in action against number one ranked Novak Djokovic (SRB) Monfils took the match to three sets but lost in the tie-breaker at the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament at the Rexall Centre in Toronto on Wednesday August 6 2014


Toronto Raptors forward Tyler Hansbrough (back) tumbles over Chicago Bulls centre Joakim Noah (13) during second half NBA action in Toronto on Thursday November 13 2014

Frank GunnThe Canadian Press

FinalistsVancouver Canucks Derek Dorsett left fights New Jersey Devils Seth Helgeson at Rogers Arena in Vancou-ver on November 25 2014

Photo by Ric Ernst The ProvinceVancouver Sun

_GoBack

_GoBack

MEDIA2015 AWARDS EDITION bull VOLUME 17 NUMBER FIVE


Table of contents

EDITOR LEGAL ADVISOR ART DIRECTION and DESIGN

THE CONTRIBUTORS

COVER PHOTO COMPASSIONATE COMRADES COME TO LIFE Cpl Nathan Cirillo a reservist who was guarding the National War Memorial outside the Parliament buildings in Ottawa was shot and killed in a terror attack on Oct 22 2014 that ended in a fatal shoot-out on Parliament Hill PHOTO CREDIT Bruce MacKinnon -- The Chronicle Herald Halifax NS

2 MEDIA

David McKie1-613-290-7380

David McKiePeter Jacobsen BersenasJacobsen Chouest Thomson

Blackburn LL P

Britney Dennison Bruce MacKinnon Charles Rusnell Enza Uda Dave Seglins Jesse McLean John Lehmann Jon Wells Kevin Rollason Kim Bolan Ric Esther Bienstock Shelley Page Stan Behal Teri Pecoskie Jim Coyle Trina Roache

MEDIAA PUBLICATION OF

PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE SCARRED FOR LIFE The black market can expose organ sellers and recipients to sub-standard medical practicePHOTO CREDIT Associated Producers

THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTSLrsquoASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES JOURNALISTES

Page 8 CAJ - DON MCGILLIVRAY AWARD AND COMMUNITY BROADCASTTHE AURA OF POWER CBC Edmontonrsquos Charles Rusnell explains how he and Jennie Russell used freedom-of-information re-quests sources and lots of shoe leather to expose the spending that ultimately forced Alison Redford to resign as premier of Alberta

Page 10 CAJ ndash TEXT FEATURE A FATHERrsquoS WORST NIGHTMARE Amos Mustapha had not seen his teen daughter since wishing her good luck just before her final exam Jesse McLean describes the kidnapping the pain and the hope for a happy ending

Page 12 CAJ ndash OPEN BROADCAST FEATURE TRAFFICKING IN KIDNEYS Ric Esther Bienstock tells the stories of people on both sides of the international kidney trade debate

Page 16 CAJ ndash OPEN BROADCAST NEWS SPEAKING OUT A 21-year-old fast-food worker from BC became the reluctant whistleblower whose story forced McDonalds to change the way it uses temporary foreign workers By Enza Uda

Page 18 CAJ - CWA CANADA CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING EXHAUSTION ON THE RAILS Locomotive operators opened about falling asleep at the controls By Dave Seglins

PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE THE FORGOTTEN MAN Robert Sinclair holds a portrait of his first cousin Brian Sinclair at a news conference Brian Sinclair a disabled aborigi-nal man died in Sept 2008 after waiting 34 hours in the emergency room of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg PHOTO CREDIT WAYNEGLOWACKIWinnipeg Free Press

TABLE OF CONTENTS



4 MEDIA

0 CAJ ndash ONLINE MEDIACHARTING CHINArsquoS GREEN REVOLUTION Yoursquod never guess it from the countryrsquos infamous smog-filled cities but green activists are pushing for cleaner air ndash and getting results By Britney Dennison





Page 30 NNA ndash SPORTSTWO TEAMS TWO DREAMS The Toronto Star profiled two hockey teams where the dream of making it to the NHL survives the obscurity heartache ndash and the occasional harrowing road trip By Jim Coyle








michenerawardsca


The First Word

By David McKie
































































Aura of Power

CBC News Edmonton







































Finalists

Alison Brunette




Abigail Bimman

Who cares

CTV News Kitchener

Natalie Clancy


CBC News Vancouver


By Charles Rusnell



































Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean




Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro


Postmedia News


















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack



4 MEDIA

Page 20 CAJ ndash ONLINE MEDIACHARTING CHINArsquoS GREEN REVOLUTION Yoursquod never guess it from the countryrsquos infamous smog-filled cities but green activists are pushing for cleaner air ndash and getting results By Britney Dennison





0 NNA ndash SPORTSTWO TEAMS TWO DREAMS The Toronto Star profiled two hockey teams where the dream of making it to the NHL survives the obscurity heartache ndash and the occasional harrowing road trip By Jim Coyle








michenerawardsca


The First Word

By David McKie
































































Aura of Power

CBC News Edmonton







































Finalists

Alison Brunette




Abigail Bimman

Who cares

CTV News Kitchener

Natalie Clancy


CBC News Vancouver


By Charles Rusnell



































Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean




Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro


Postmedia News


















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack


The First Word

By David McKie
































































Aura of Power

CBC News Edmonton







































Finalists

Alison Brunette




Abigail Bimman

Who cares

CTV News Kitchener

Natalie Clancy


CBC News Vancouver


By Charles Rusnell



































Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean




Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro


Postmedia News


















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack



Aura of Power

CBC News Edmonton







































Finalists

Alison Brunette




Abigail Bimman

Who cares

CTV News Kitchener

Natalie Clancy


CBC News Vancouver


By Charles Rusnell



































Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean




Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro


Postmedia News


















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack


































Toronto Star

By Jesse McLean




Taylor

CTV News

Margaret Munro


Postmedia News


















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack
















































Related links





Finalists


APTN Investigates















































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack






































By Enza Uda


Finalists















By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack








By Dave Seglins
















Obstacles














Story Links




FinalistsIra Basen




The Huffington Post


Ottawa Citizen


Vancouver Sun








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack








By Britney Dennison

































Finalists






Observer



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack



Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

John Lehmann




















Finalists










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack










































Outside the circle

APTN National News

Trina Roache

Finalists




HateToronto Star


Toronto Star


Winnipeg Free Press







Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack






Bruce MacKinnon


















By Bruce MacKinnon




2015 Fall Edition 2

OF FUTURE THE

JOUR-

NALISM

IS AT

FIND

WHYOUT

KINGrsquoS



LISA WEIGHTON















28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack

28 MEDIA


nalism Award




Teri Pecoskie





































NNA FINALISTS






html

CAJ FINALISTS












NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack


NNA ndash Sports


Toronto Star


By Jim Coyle


























































Finalists










Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack



Visit

































NNA finalists


Jian Ghomeshi


morphine




CAJ finalists



Toronto Star





Toronto Star



Jon Wells




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack




Manitoba hospitals

Winnipeg Free Press

Kevin Rollason
































Finalists




ticle17648947




Claude+Malboeuf



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack



Vancouver Sun

Kim Bolan































STORY LINKS



ng10250010storyhtml








storyhtml


FINALISTS


on Parliament Hill











Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack





Ottawa Citizen

Shelley Page





































Finalists


cancer


that is Somalia



Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack


Toronto Sun



over the net

Stan Behal

































_GoBack

_GoBack

Media Magazine: 2015 Awards Issue

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Transcript of Media Magazine: 2015 Awards Issue