SAM POLING STACKS UP THE JOURNALISM AWARDS SILVERWARE

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By Democrat reporter

Award-winning reporter Sam Poling has been recognised again for her work to help bring one of Scotland’s most dangerous men to justice.

Poling, was one of number of prominent Scottish journalists who did their training under the editorship of Bill Heaney at the Lennox Herald, which was then Dunbartonshire’s highest selling weekly newspaper but is now struggling to survive.
Heaney, who was himself Scotland’s Weekly Newspaper Journalist of the Year three times and is now editor/owner of The Dumbarton Democrat, a digital news outlet, congratulated Sam who thanked him and said she had remembered all he taught her.
Heaney is now, of course, banned by anti-democratic West Dunbartonshire Council.
Sam scored a double by winning at the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards last week and then lifted a Bafta for the BBC documentary, Catching a Killer: The Murder of Emma Caldwell.
That production won investigation of the year, and Sam the trophy brought back to her home in Helensburgh.
She was given the prestigious title of Broadcast Journalist of the Year title, beating national media stars  such as Sky’s Alex Crawford, ITV’s Paul Brand and the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

“Well done to the best team of journalists in the world,” she said. “And also – and more importantly – to those who allowed us to tell their stories and trusted us to and helped us to catch a killer. I am so proud of everyone. Thank you.”

The judges described the documentary as an “exceptional example of the impact that journalists can have on criminal justice”.

Sam also won a Bafta Scotland for news and current affairs for the documentary along with producer/director Eamon O Connor.

They dedicated the award to Emma Caldwell and the other survivors of her murderer Iain Packer.

Sam is also is up for a British Journalism Award as “interviewer of the year” for her work on the Calswell murder.

Packer was jailed for life for the 2005 killing. He had remained free for nearly two decades, and was exposed first by the Sunday Mail and then Sam when she interviewed the killer.

Her work was crucial to the conviction along with those who survived his attacks.

The ‘Who Killed Emma?’ podcast can be found at BBC Sounds.

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