2012 Atlantic Journalism Awards Finalists
Attachments
| Slug/Label | |
|---|---|
| Date Aired or Published | 2012 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | CBC Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Name of Program: | Here and Now |
| If co-produced, list partner: | |
| Location: | Happy Valley - Goose Bay |
| List awards, grants: | |
| Running time (TV/Radio): | 7:50 |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: This includes three very different stories from 2013. First is a story that got national attention. When 14 year old Burton Winters dies on the ice near the isolated community of Makkovik we struggled with how to cover it. Early on it became clear this was a big story not just for the community and the province so we decided to fly to the community. It was a difficult environment both physically and emotionally. The mayor had told us not to come, yet people in the community were encouraging us to tell the story of Burton Winters. It was -20 in the community, and with no cars I had to walk everywhere carrying my camera and the rest of the gear. Most of the interviews were lined up once I arrived in the community. The family had said they didn't want to do an interview but invited me in for coffee anyway. After an hour of sitting there listening to them talk about their son they agreed to let me interview them. CBC is the only TV station they've ever talked to. Shooting was difficult as a VJ because of the cold temperatures. The zoom in during the standup was done with the help of the shot transition setting on the camera, allowing some camera movement without a camera operator. The second story was a difficult one to tell on TV. During Peter Penashue's election campaign I noticed he was spending a lot of money, doing a lot of trips. It was something I filed to look into later. When an aboriginal development company he took an election loan from was embroiled in controversy I decided to take another look at just where Penashue spent. The only way to get access to the original documents was to send someone in person to the Election Canada offices in Ottawa. A CBC researcher offered to go and gather the documents in person. Once she sent them we realized we had a much bigger story than the loan. Penashue had broken the rules by receiving $17,000 in free travel from an airline. He was thousands over his spending limit. Later on we'd find out that corporate donations were accepted from a construction firm, another rule broken by the campaign. A lot of the time with this item was spent going through the archives, pulling out the footage from last year's campaign to find the shots of the official agent. Because no one involved in this story was talking, it was the pictures and documents that had to tell the story. We presented this with a live top and tail. As a VJ I had to operate my own shot as well as be on camera. It was this story that forced the Prime Minister to stand in the House of Commons and answer questions. The Liberals cited our reporting when they asked the Commissioner of Elections to investigate Penashue. Rick Mercer even parodied the story. The final piece is an example of a fun same day turnaround story. For the first time the program Toys for the North was delivering thousands of toys for kids in Labrador. It was a tight timeline to get all the steps in the piece (the toys arriving on the military plane, being unloaded, volunteers arriving and wrapping) get a couple voices and a standup and get it all edited and fed. I tried to use creative camera angles in order to tell the story literally from all angles |
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Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: I'm the only TV person working in Eastern Labrador so all the work has to be done myself, there's no backup during big stories. All lives are done myself |
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