The Winnipeg Free Press is this year’s recipient of the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large-media category, open to media with more than 50 newsroom employees. The Free Press received the award tonight at the annual Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards.
Named in honour of CJF founder Dr. Eric Jackman, this annual excellence award since 1996 recognizes news organizations, large and small, that embrace ideals of journalistic excellence – originality, courage, independence, accuracy, social responsibility, accountability and diversity—with a resulting positive impact on the communities they serve.
The CJF honoured The Winnipeg Free Press for The Inquest Files, which reported on two decades of inquests into fatal shootings involving several Manitoba police forces. This series examined the barriers and delays faced by one Anishnaabe family to participate in an inquest, exposing how expert witness testimony favours law enforcement and revealing judges’ unwillingness to make tangible recommendations. It is the second time the independent newspaper received the Jackman Excellence award
In the small-media category, The Montreal Gazette won for a series highlighting the preventable nature of six deaths at the Lakeshore General Hospital emergency room and exposing how the West Island Health Authority covered up the circumstances surrounding these deaths: Staff haunted by suicide at the Lakeshore Hospital ER; Whistleblowers flagged deaths at Lakeshore ER multiple times and Premier “shielded” from harsh realities of Lakeshore ER, sources say. It is the first time the Gazette has received a Jackman award.
Held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, the CJF Awards brought together more than 500 journalists, media executives and business leaders from across Canada to celebrate journalistic achievements of the past year.
Comments