Times Colonist wins Justicia award

The Times Colonist has won the
2010 Justicia Award for Excellence in legal Journalism for its series on
access to information in the B.C. court system.

The Times Colonist reports:

“Those involved in the project included reporters Louise Dickson, Lindsay Kines, Rob Shaw and Kim Westad, city editor Stephanie Coombs, editorial writer Dave Obee, columnist Les Leyne and editorial assistant Karen Calland.

“The series was singled out by the jury for alerting the public to a very troubling practice in the B.C. court system and for impelling dramatic changes in justice policy in the province.

“The Justicia jury said the investigative series best fulfilled the role that the Justicia Awards was created to encourage. “The series exemplifies professional investigative journalism at its best and the conclusions it draws are flawless.”

The Times Colonist adds:

“A team from Radio-Canada’s Enquête won in the broadcast category for a show on the practice of paying informants. The program follows the stories of three paid informants with criminal pasts who received shortened prison terms for their testimony during the 1994 to 2006 biker wars in Quebec. The result is a gritty exposé of the secretive world of informants, and the officers of justice who work with them.”