| Hillman Foundation

Sidney's Picks: How the News Lost Its Nerve

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Three 2024 Canadian Hillman Prizes awarded for original, ground-breaking journalism

Toronto (March 19, 2024) - The Sidney Hillman Foundation announces today the winners of the 14th annual Canadian Hillman Prizes:

  • Print/Digital Prize – Steven Chase and Robert Fife at The Globe and Mail for “Foreign Interference”
  • Broadcast Prize – Brandi Morin and Geordie Day for “Killer Water,” published by Ricochet Media, Real News Network and IndigiNews
  • Local News Prize – Aaron Derfel of the Montreal Gazette for “Staff haunted by preventable deaths at Lakeshore Hospital ER

The Globe and Mail’s 2023 coverage of political interference in Canada by the Chinese government triggered a national debate, dominated the country’s news agenda, and led to a public inquiry that is now underway. This investigative series fueled discussion about the need for vigilance and stronger measures to protect Canadian democracy, values and institutions from foreign interference and espionage. 

“Killer Water” co-produced and co-directed by Brandi Morin and Geordie Day—with editing and production by Ricochet Media, Real News Network and Indiginews—goes inside the Athabaska Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta to expose how the long-term and devastating impacts of the oil sands threaten people’s health, traditional way of life, and the very survival of the community.

Aaron Derfel, the Montreal Gazette’s long-time health reporter, probed six preventable deaths –including one suicide—in the emergency room of Quebec’s Lakeshore Hospital. He discovered an ER that operates routinely at more than 150 per cent capacity, with a chronic shortage of nurses; inadequate training; sporadic oversight; and a lack of functioning equipment. 

“These journalists have demonstrated the critical role of the media in demanding accountability from governments, corporations, and institutions,” said Alex Dagg, Canadian board member of the Sidney Hillman Foundation. “We’re proud to reward their ground-breaking work.”

The Sidney Hillman Foundation will host a celebration of the honourees on April 4th in Toronto.

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The Sidney Hillman Foundation honours excellence in journalism in service of the common good. U.S. Hillman Prizes have been awarded annually since 1950 and the Canadian Hillman Prize since 2011.

For more information please contact: Alexandra Lescaze: alex@hillmanfoundation.org

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Trois prix Hillman 2024 décernés à des lauréats canadiens pour un journalisme original et novateur

Toronto, le 19 mars 2024 – La Sidney Hillman Foundation annonce aujourd’hui les lauréats des 14e Prix canadiens Hillman :

La couverture par le Globe and Mail, en 2023 de l’ingérence politique du gouvernement chinois au Canada a déclenché un débat national, a dominé l’actualité du pays et a conduit à une enquête publique qui est en cours. Cette série d’enquêtes a alimenté le débat sur la nécessité de faire preuve de vigilance et de prendre des mesures plus strictes pour protéger la démocratie, les valeurs et les institutions canadiennes contre l’ingérence et l’espionnage étrangers. 

« Killer Water », coproduit et coréalisé par Brandi Morin et Geordie Day, monté et produit par Ricochet Media, Real News Network et Indiginews, explore la Première Nation Athabaska Chipewyan, en Alberta, pour montrer comment les effets dévastateurs à long terme des sables bitumineux menacent la santé des populations, leur mode de vie traditionnel et la survie même de la communauté.

Aaron Derfel, journaliste de longue date à Montreal Gazette, a enquêté sur six décès évitables, dont un suicide, au sein du service des urgences de l’hôpital du Lakeshore, au Québec. Il a découvert une urgence fonctionnant régulièrement à plus de 150 % de sa capacité, composant avec une pénurie chronique d’infirmières, une prestation inadéquate de formations, une surveillance sporadique et un manque d’équipements fonctionnels. 

« Ces journalistes ont démontré le rôle essentiel des médias lorsqu’il est question de reddition de comptes de la part des gouvernements, des entreprises et des institutions », explique Alex Dagg, membre canadien du conseil d’administration de la Sidney Hillman Foundation. « Nous sommes fiers de récompenser leur travail novateur ».

La Sidney Hillman Foundation tiendra une célébration des lauréats le 4 avril prochain à Toronto.

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La Sidney Hillman Foundation récompense l’excellence du journalisme au service du bien commun. Les prix Hillman américains sont décernés chaque année depuis 1950 et les prix Hillman canadiens, depuis 2011.

Pour en savoir plus : Alexandra Lescaze : alex@hillmanfoundation.org

Sidney's Picks: Can New Models Save the Media

The Best of the Week’s News
 

  • Can new media models pull the industry out of free fall? Will unions step up to support labor reporting. (NYT, ITT)
     
  • NLRB certifies union for Dartmouth men’s basketball players. (WMUR)
     
  • Joe Biden’s budget would expand the social safety net by taxing the rich. (New Yorker)
     
  • School hate crimes quadrupled in states with anti-LGBTQ laws. (WaPo)
     
  • Florida fire chief called the cops on a Tampa Bay Times reporter who showed up to inspect public records. (TBT)
     
  • Hillman Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones on the “colorblindness trap”: How a Civil Rights ideal got hijacked
     
  • Former ISIS supporters and their children face indefinite detention after fall of Islamic State. (New Yorker)

Sidney's Picks: Inside a Brooklyn Sweatshop

The Best of the Week’s News

Sidney's Picks: Starbucks Stops Fighting Union

The Best of the Week’s News

  • More than half of workers at the Vanz Mercedes-Benz plant in AL have signed cards to join the UAW in the first successful union drive at the plant in its 27-year history. 
     
  • Amazon paid $1.9 million to compensate migrant workers after International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partners exposed Amazon’s exploitative labor practices in Saudi Arabia. (Guardian, ICIJ)
     
  • In a major breakthrough, Starbucks and Workers United agree to move forward together to create a framework for contract talks. (Prospect, Starbucks Press, NYT)
     
  • Proposed law in Arizona would make it legal for property owners to kill migrants on their land. (NBC)

Starbucks Asked To Disclose $240M Spent on Union-Busting

Photo credit: 

Weighing the coffee beans, Matthew Bellemare, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News
 

  • Union-backed shareholders ask SEC to make Starbucks level with investiors about the $240 million the company has spent on union-busting. (Reuters)
     
  • Labor Department says Fayette Janitorial LLC illegally hired 24 children to clean two slaughter houses, including the head-splitters and bandsaws. (NBC)
     
  • How to save the collapsing U.S. media. (Jacobin)
     
  • A formerly unhoused journalist reports on the spiraling housing crisis from the tents, cars, motels, and couches of America. (NYT)
     
  • Alexei Navalny’s mother says the Russian government is blackmailing her, refusing to releae his body unless she agrees to a secret burial. (Axios)
     
  • How part-time schedules wreak havoc on workers’ lives. (NYT)

Sidney's Picks: Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Dies in Prison As Election Nears

Photo credit: 

Prachatai, Creative Commons.

  • Anti-corruption crusader and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison, depriving Russia of key voice as election nears. (WaPo)
     
  • Concertina wire installed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott is maiming migrants on the border. (HuffPo)
     
  • A trove of documents sheds light on the legal malfeasance behind the January 6 insurrection. (TPM)
     
  • New law takes heavy toll on Florida’s labor unions. (WLRN)
     
  • Labor names housing affordability as its number one issue. (Guardian)

Sidney's Picks: Dartmouth Hoops Players Cleared to Unionize

The Best of the Week’s News
 

  • NLRB judge rules that Dartmouth’s basketball players are employees of the university, gives the first NCAA players the right to organize a union. (AP)
     
  • A 16-year-old boy died after being pulled into an industrial chicken-boning machine at the plant where he worked. (Law & Crime)
     
  • New podcast explores the history, strategy, and significance of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). (Organizing the Unorganized)
     
  • Labor judge orders Starbucks to reinstate barista who was forced out for organizing at the first Buffalo store. (AP)
     
  • Guardian Angel vigilante group roughs up an alleged heckler for Fox News cameras, falsely accuses him of shoplifting. (NYMag)
     
  • More than 30% of Hyundai autoworkers in Montgomery, AL have joined a UAW union drive. (ITT)

Sidney's Picks: Golden Arches Made with Prison Labor

The Best of the Week’s News

 

    •     McDonald’s, Walmart and Cargill use food from hidden prison labor network. (AP)

 

    •    Biden cracks down on extremists in the West Bank attacking Palestinians and peace activists. (WaPo)
 

    •    This teacher was sanctioned for teaching Between the World And Me, but she’s trying again. (WaPo)
 

    •    SpaceX and Trader Joes launch major legal attack on labor. (Guardian)
 

    •    The UAW saved a Stellantis plant, but these workers are still fighting to get back to work. (In These Times)
 

    •    Killing the Messenger: An inside look at the death of a media company (NY Mag)

 

Sidney's Picks: Texas Defies Supreme Court, Dares POTUS to Respond

Photo credit: 

Thomas Hawk, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News:

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