JOURNALISM: SOCIETY OF EDITORS FREEDOM AWARDS

Shortlist announced for Media Freedom Awards

The shortlist has this morning been announced for the Society’s prestigious Media Freedom Awards 2023.
Celebrating excellence across campaigning and investigative journalism, the awards set the benchmark for a celebration of UK public interest journalism and shine a light on the crucial role that UK journalists play in promoting media freedom, championing the public’s right to know and holding power to account.
The headline sponsor for this year’s awards is Grove Gallery, a prestigious London-based art gallery with additional sponsors including Camelot, which has supported the Society of Editors since 2001, the Google News Initiative, Cision and Newsworks. The ceremony will once again be presented by renowned ITV News Journalist and Presenter Lucrezia Millarini.
Full details on the shortlist as well as how to book and take advantage of the early-bird booking rate before Tuesday 3 October can be found below.

Read the shortlist

SLAPPs taskforceThe Society last week took part in the first meeting of the government’s new taskforce set up to look at non-legislative action to address Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). The taskforce will build on protections already put forward in the Economic Crime Bill to clamp down on SLAPPs targeting economic crime.

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Police and Media relations

More trust and transparency between the police and media is urgently needed if forces are to restore public confidence in the policing profession, a conference has been told. Speaking at the Police Superintendents’ Association annual conference recently, Rebecca Camber, Chair of the Crime Reporters Association told attendees that police should be speaking to the media more, not less, and that lessons must be learnt from the Nicola Bulley investigation.

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Open justice

Both the government and the courts system must do more to enhance open justice and transparency in the judicial process, the Society has said. Responding to the MOJ’s consultation on Open Justice: The Way Forward, the Society called for a number of measures to improve public confidence in the courts as well as highlighting concerns over use of the Single Justice Procedure.