The Daily Mail’s excellence in campaigning and investigative journalism is recognised on the Media Freedom Awards
The Daily Mail’s excellence in campaigning and investigative journalism has been recognised with a host of top honours at the Society of Editors’ prestigious Media Freedom Awards.
Chief Reporter Sam Greenhill was named Journalist of the Year for a series of jaw-dropping scoops including the exposure of an NHS chief snoozing on a train while supposedly at work and the revelation of a disastrous data leak at the MoD which threatened the lives of thousands of Afghans.
The Mail team of Greenhill and former chief reporter David Williams were the first to learn of the leak and battled for two years to overturn an MoD superinjunction to cover it up.
The same scoop also won the Investigation of the Year award, which the pair dedicated to the ‘brave Afghans the Mail’s campaign has been helping, many of whom still face lethal consequences as a result of the British military’s data leak blunder’.
Judges praised the Mail’s team for their ‘impeccable contacts’ as well as their ‘dogged determination to bring the truth to light’.
Crime and investigative journalist Stephen Wright was highly commended in the same category for his Beast of Birkenhead series which exposed the conviction of Peter Sullivan for a murder he did not commit.
Ian Birrell won Commentator of the Year (Popular) for a broad-ranging entry including a piece reflecting on the recent death of his daughter which judges said was ‘beautifully written and exceptionally moving’.
The Daily Mail was also highly commended in the flagship category of News Media Organisation of the Year.
Chief Reporter Sam Greenhill (pictured) was named Journalist of the Year for a series of jaw-dropping scoops including the exposure of an NHS chief snoozing on a train while supposedly at work and the revelation of a disastrous data leak at the MoD which threatened the lives of thousands of Afghans
The Mail team of Greenhill and former chief reporter David Williams (pictured) were the first to learn of the leak and battled for two years to overturn an MoD superinjunction to cover it up
There was further success at the Irish Journalism Awards for the Mail’s From Bomb to Ballot podcast.
The groundbreaking series examining the history of Sinn Fein was presented by the Irish Daily Mail’s Executive Editor John Lee and took home the prestigious award for Podcast of the Year.
