CBC and The Canadian Press win Michener for joint Taser analysis project

Frédéric Zalac SRC; Jim Bronskill Canadian Press; Governor General Michaëlle Jean; Esther Enkin CBC

The Michener Awards Foundation
Ottawa, June 10, 2009 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press (CP) have won the 2008 Michener Award for a joint project that analyzed and reported on the use of Taser stun guns, David Humphreys, President of the Michener Awards Foundation, announced today.

In a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, presented coveted Michener Award trophies to Esther Enkin, executive editor of CBC News and Jim Bronskill, national reporter of The Canadian Press for their joint entry. They were among eight news organizations honoured at the ceremony. The Michener Award is presented annually for journalism that makes a significant impact on the public good.

June 11, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — A joint project that produced a multimedia analysis of Taser stun guns and their use by the RCMP has won the 2008 Michener Award for CBC/Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press.

The prestigious award that is named after former governor general Roland Michener is given out based on the degree of public benefit generated by the print and broadcast entries submitted. The winner was announced Wednesday.

One Canadian Press-CBC joint study of more than 3,200 incidents in which Mounties fired the powerful stun guns between 2002 and 2008 showed officers used the Taser multiple times in almost 43 per cent of cases.

Another joint effort found the Mounties were censoring key information that must be recorded each time officers draw their weapons.

As well, a separate CBC/Radio-Canada investigation found some stun guns deliver a stronger jolt than they should.

The Canadian Press-CBC project produced stories for newspapers, websites, radio and television.

Other finalists chosen by the Michener Awards Foundation were Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe, the Globe and Mail, the Hamilton Spectator, Toronto Star and Winnipeg Free Press.

Ed Struzik, a reporter with the Edmonton Journal, won the 2009 Michener-Deacon Fellowship for a project on arctic sovereignty.

The fellowship will allow Struzik to join an expedition of geologists who are building a case for Canada to claim an arctic area the size of three prairie provinces.