Praising the ‘story behind the story’
Investigative journalists more important now than ever, Newspaper Day panel told
When Kevin Donovan began his investigation into ORNGE air ambulances that uncovered safety issues and connections between the former head of the province’s taxpayerfunded service and its suppliers, he started with more than 20 tips.
“There were things as diverse as ‘we believe the guy running the air ambulance firm for the government got a $6.5-million kickback,’ ” Donovan, the head of the Star’s investigation team, told a panel at the annual Newspaper Day event by the Advertising Club of Toronto.
Another tip he looked into was that Dr. Chris Mazza, the head of ORNGE, used one of its companies to buy a speedboat.
“How you go about finding this stuff is I look to see what I can prove and the things that look impossible to prove, like the kickback — which I eventually did prove — I pushed to one side and then I tried to see can I find the speedboat,” said Donovan, adding, “well I found the speedboat.”
The Star found $4.7 million of the promised funds were paid to a Mazza-controlled company.
The five-year-old OPP criminal investigation into the kickback allegations involving ORNGE air ambulance is still ongoing.
The panel, which discussed “the story behind the story,” also featured Grant Robertson of the Globe and Mail, Jacquie McNish of the Wall Street Journal and Adrian Humphreys of the National Post.
The Star’s editor-in-chief Michael Cooke introduced the panel, which was moderated by Paula Todd, saying “no one is more important to us as editors and to you as readers, than (investigative journalists).”
At a time when many newspapers are shrinking, the investigation team at the Star and some other media outlets have been growing, Donovan said.
“The Toronto Star has more people on (the investigative) team than ever before,” said Donovan. “What we find is our readers really like it. They like the long form.”
Donovan, who has won National Newspaper Awards, Michener Awards and Canadian Association of Journalists Awards for his work, is known for major stories such as the Rob Ford crack scandal and his investigation into allegations about Jian Ghomeshi.
The panellists also discussed the need for quality, robust, factchecked journalism to counteract fake news.
“There’s always been fake news, always,” said McNish.
“The spin we’re seeing in Washington has been well practised by organizations and corporations for years. What’s changed is it’s gone mainstream and there are new conduits in social media, Facebook, other platforms that allow these falsehoods to be repeated again and again and again.”
Donovan said the only antidote to fake news is to do better stories.
“It’s like if you imagine a boat filling with water and if you could somehow pump fresh air into it you push all the water out,” Donovan said. “And so we have to be, we journalists with the help of advertisers, we have to be that fresh air. We have to do the good stories.”