Star nominated for 2 Michener awards
The Toronto Star has been nominated for two Michener awards for two series: the Panama Papers, and Secrecy and the SIU.
The Panama Papers project involved the collaboration of 100 media outlets with journalists in 80 countries, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada, who worked together to investigate 11.5 million files leaked from inside Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-headquartered law firm that specialized in building offshore companies.
In a collaborative effort, the Star published more than 50 exclusive reports as part of the Panama Papers leak.
The Star’s Robert Cribb, Marco Chown Oved and Tanya Talaga all contributed to the project that exposed offshore companies linked to more than 140 politicians in more than 50 countries — including 14 current or former world leaders.
Since the Panama Papers broke in early April 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has published more than 4,700 news stories based on the leaks that include 40 years of records, such as emails, financial spreadsheets, passport information and corporate records.
In March 2016, a probe by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) into the shooting death of Andrew Loku determined that the officer did not exceed “justifiable force” and no criminal charges would be laid, the Michener Awards Foundation release said.
“Persistent journalism by the Toronto Star exposed a lack of transparency in the civilian police watchdog’s public reporting process,” the release said.
The Star’s tenacious coverage by Wendy Gillis, Jacques Gallant, Alex Ballingall, Edward Keenan and Robert Benzie contributed to significant actions, including the release of a redacted version of the SIU investigation, public access to Toronto police board reports of SIU investigations of Toronto police and, in April, an independent review tabled its report with 129 recommendations to improve police oversight and transparency in Ontario, the release said.
“It’s another fabulous validation of the great work done day in and day out in the Star’s newsroom,” said Star Editor Michael Cooke. “And we’re delighted to be in such varied journalistic company as Canada’s media struggles coast-to-coast against the economic tide to do reporting that changes our society for the better.”
Earlier this year, the Panama Pap- ers won a Pulitzer Prize and so far have accumulated 14 major national and international awards.
The other finalists include Globe and Mail: Shadow flipping; London Free Press: Indiscernible; National Observer: Pipeline Panel; and La Presse: Enquête sur les appareils de loterie video.
The Michener awards are one of Canada’s most prestigious awards, given out for meritorious public service journalism. They will be hosted by David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, at Rideau Hall on June 14.