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The 2005 Michener Award Finalists
Ottawa, March 23, 2006.
The Michener Awards Foundation today announced six finalists for the
2005 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism and
named the winner of the 2006 Michener-Deacon Fellowship.
The finalists are the Canadian Medical Association Journal, The
Globe and Mail, La Presse, Radio-Canada, Toronto Star, and Victoria
Times Colonist and The Vancouver Sun, chosen jointly.
The Michener-Deacon Fellowship was awarded to Montreal-based
freelance writer Julian Sher, who will investigate the scourge of
child pornography. Mr. Sher is a documentary film producer, author
of three investigative books and creator of JournalismNet. The
fellowship provides $25,000 for four months of work on a project.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General
of Canada, will host the Michener Awards ceremony on April 11 at
Rideau Hall, Ottawa, where the winner of the Award will be
announced.
The Michener Award, founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener,
then Governor General, goes to a news organization. The judges’
decisions are heavily influenced by the degree of public benefit
generated by the print and broadcast entries submitted for
consideration.
The following entries are the 2005 finalists:
Canadian Medical Association Journal: Reporters investigated
a screening form developed by the Canadian Pharmacists’ Association
to guide pharmacists in counseling women seeking the emergency
contraceptive drug Plan B. The form asked highly personal questions
and could have posed a barrier to access the drug. Following
publication of the story, the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association
decided to drop the screening form and to stop asking women for
personal identity information.
The Globe and Mail: Two series of stories about breast cancer
by reporter Lisa Priest resulted in improvements in diagnosis and
treatment. One series about the breakthrough breast cancer drug
Herceptin prompted provincial governments to fast-track the drug
approval process and expand use of the drug. It had been restricted
to women who were dying of breast cancer. A second series about
breast cancer screening machines prompted provincial governments to
impose tighter regulations on clinics and compelled many clinic
owners of screening machines to pass a national quality test.
La Presse: A series of stories revealed serious problems in
security on Montreal’s subway system, including rising crime levels
and a lack of coordination between the métro system’s own security
force and Montreal city police. Following publication of the series,
the city of Montreal announced that responsibility for security
would be taken over by Montreal city police.
Radio-Canada: An investigation of two Hydro-Quebec power
facilities in northern Quebec by reporter Christian Latreille
revealed a serious lack of security at the huge dams. Following
broadcasts showing the reporting team wandering through the
facilities unimpeded, Hydro-Quebec announced a plan to spend $130
million to improve security, including the hiring of 200 guards.
Toronto Star: Following a series of stories by reporter
Harold Levy about the sloppy and incompetent work of a pediatric
pathologist, a Sault Ste. Marie man who had served 12 years in
prison was released on bail after Justice Minister Irwin Cotler
concluded that there had been a miscarriage of justice in his case.
Ontario Chief Coroner Barry McLellan also announced a widespread
review of autopsies involving homicides and suspicious deaths of
children.
Victoria Times Colonist and The Vancouver Sun: Two competing
newspapers, working independently, each produced a series of stories
about problems affecting child protection in British Columbia that
resulted in sweeping reviews of the system. The Times Colonist
published more than 70 stories on child protection while the Sun
focused in great depth on the death of three-year-old Savannah Hall.
Judges for the 2005 Michener Award:
Russell Mills (chair), Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Media
and Design, Algonquin College, and former Publisher of the Ottawa
Citizen; Arch MacKenzie, former Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Canadian
Press and The Toronto Star; Dr. Catherine McKercher, Associate
Professor of Journalism and Communications, Carleton University, and
former Washington correspondent, The Canadian Press; Duncan
McMonagle, journalism instructor at Red River College in Winnipeg
and former Senior Editor, The Globe and Mail, and former
Editor-in-Chief, Winnipeg Free Press; René Roseberry, former News
Editor, Le Nouvelliste, Trois Rivieres and President of the Grands
Prix des Hebdos du Quebec.
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For more information :
Russell Mills
Phone: (613) 727-4723 x 5179
Fax : (613) 727-7707
Email: millsr@algonquincollege.com
Web Site: www. Michenerawards.ca
Media Office at Rideau Hall
Phone : (613) 993-8158 / 998-0287
Fax : (613) 998-1664
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