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John Downing - President of The Federation
of Press Clubs of Canada.
Address during the presentation of the 1973 Michener Awards,
Government House, Ottawa, May 16, 1974.
Your Excellencies, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the Federation of Press Clubs of Canada, May I say we
are honoured to participate in the fourth annual Michenar Awards for
Journalism.
The Awards are in recognition of outstanding public service in
journalism. I am happy to report to you, Sir, that since they were
established after talks five years ago between the federation and
your predecessor, The Right Honourable Roland Michener, they have
become one of the top awards in Canadian journalism. I think this is
a tribute to the foresight shown by Mr. Michener.
Judges for the competition covering projects completed during 1973
were Fraser MacDougall, Yves Jasmin, Sam Ross and William Boss. Mr.
Boss was working for the Ottawa Journal at the same time as you,
Sir, reported for Le Droit. We find it very fitting that a gentleman
whose first profession was journalism is making the presentation
today.
The judges said they studied coverage ranging from crime and
violence to storm, slum and near-disaster. It was the near-disaster
that brought the second honourable mention to two radio stations,
CHRC-AM in Quebec City and CFCW-79 in Camrose. CHRC-AM kept the
region functioning during an ice storm while CFCW-79 warned about
the dangers in an oil well leak.
The first honourable mention went to the Dartmouth Free Press mainly
for its courage in the face of a hoodlum invasion that threatened
its staff and plant.
The Roland Michener Award for 1973 goes to the CTV Television
Network for taking a series of facts, which were being reported by
all the media at the time, and the judges said, probing beyond the
surface using imagination and courage. The facts dealt with the
invasion of privacy through electronic techniques and attempts by
Parliament to legislate on the practise by drawing a line between
banning them altogether and allowing them under certain conditions
by authorized agencies. The judges said CTV made its point by
bugging one of the most secret types of gathering in Parliament
itself, a party caucus. And then the program went on to illustrate
the myriad other ways in which electronics enable the acquisition of
vast amounts of information about individual citizens. The judges
said this was an outstanding example of in-depth, reporting by a
medium still discovering its own ability to dig with impact, instead
of being content to skim superficially.
And now, Your Excellency, I would like to present the man who will
accept the 1973 Michener award, Jack MoGaw, producer of the
award-winning program.
Thank you.
John Downing
President
Federation of Press Clubs of canada
May 16, 1974
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