The Irish Times has won eight awards at the NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards.
Kitty Holland won News Reporter of the year for her extensive coverage of the harrowing Stardust inquests, an article on the background to the fractious protests at the Coolock Crown Paints site and how homeless children are displaying signs of malnutrition.
Conor Gallagher was named Crime Journalist of the year for his coverage of Blanchardstown’s nightmare before Christmas with an anatomy of a botched gangland hit, how the far right lit the fuse of violence in Dublin and an interview with Anthony Burke, who was injured in knife attack in Sligo where two men were murdered.
The Digital Innovation award went to Paddy Logue for using data to find and tell stories including the mapping of individual vacant properties in the prime central Dublin areas, an investigation into naming and collating the owners of each of the 119 buildings on Ireland’s ‘gold mile’ shopping street Grafton Street; and a look at the gender breakdown of representatives in the local and European elections.
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Sally Hayden took home the Features Journalist (broadsheet) of the year prize for her coverage of how Tunisia is the main departure point for the central Mediterranean migration route and life as a refugee in Sudan while Hannah McCarthy won the foreign coverage category for articles including an interview with a trans film-maker living alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and a piece with the Palestinian Bedouin community.
Keith Duggan won the Arts Journalism and Criticism category for articles including an interview with Colm Tóibín and a look at the idealised decade of the 90s in the wake of Matthew Perry’s death. Enda O’Dowd was recognised for Best Use of Video for his work interviewing people inside an emergency accommodation centre and inside Midlands prison while Ticket, the Irish Times culture supplement, won Best Magazine.
The Journalist of the Year award went jointly to Mark Tighe of the Sunday Independent and Marie Crowe of RTÉ for their lengthy investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in senior women’s football.
Speaking at the prize-giving event at Dublin’s Mansion House on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil leader and Tánaiste Micheál Martin pledged to reintroduce the Defamation Bill in the next Dáil to protect publishers against strategic legal actions, or Slapps, designed to prevent publication of matters in the public interest.
“The aggressive use of defamation laws to stifle independent journalism and fair political debate, is a problem which will become a crisis if it’s not stopped now,” said the Fianna Fáil leader at the NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards in Dublin’s Mansion House on Wednesday.
He said the Defamation Bill, which automatically fell with the dissolution of the Dáil, would “radically reform” related laws at a time “when they are increasingly being used to intimidate journalists, media outlets and indeed political opponents”.
Mr Martin said the Defamation Bill was necessary to “safeguard responsible public interest journalism” and ensure defamation awards are proportionate, while reducing delays and legal costs.
Regarding the spread of misinformation, Mr Martin said: “When there’s so many competing voices and sources of information, when there are algorithmic echo chambers, when bad actors go out to sow hate, the value of professional and trusted journalism only increases.”
He also gave a commitment to ensure national and local media “are paid properly for their news content when it is used by online platforms”.
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