2018 New England First Amendment Awards

Transcript

Audio

About NEFAC’s First Amendment Awards Luncheon

February 23, 2018
12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel
606 Congress Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Parking Options

Schedule

12:30 p.m. Luncheon Begins
12:40 p.m. Welcoming Remarks
Thomas Fiedler, former NEFAC president and dean of the Boston University College of Communication
Introduction of Emcee
12:45 p.m. Luncheon Served
1 p.m. Presentation of the Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award
Acceptance and remarks by 2018 Citizenship Award recipient Hyde Square Task Force
1:15 p.m. Presentation of the Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award
Acceptance and remarks by 2018 FOI Award recipient Todd Wallack of The Boston Globe
1:35 p.m. Presentation of the Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award
Acceptance and remarks by 2018 First Amendment Award recipient Jane Mayer of The New Yorker
2 p.m. Closing Remarks

Master of Ceremonies

Ed Harding, WCVB-Boston

Ed Harding has been a member of NewsCenter 5 for more than 25 years. He joined WCVB in 1988 as weekend sports anchor and reporter. He took over as co-anchor of the EyeOpener newscast in 2000. Harding is the recipient of numerous awards including two Boston/New England Emmy awards for best Anchor-News and a first place Massachusetts Broadcasters Association Sound Bites award for On-Air Personality, among others. Before joining WCVB, Harding was sports director and principal sports anchor for WISH-TV, the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis. While in the Midwest, Harding won two Indiana Associated Press awards and was named Best TV Sportscaster by Indianapolis Magazine.

Program

Award Nomination Materials (Closed)

• Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award
• Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award

2018 Award Recipients

Jane Mayer, The New Yorker | Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award

Jane Mayer, a writer for The New Yorker since 1995, covers politics, culture, and national security for the magazine. Mayer is perhaps best known for her accountability journalism and her ability to expose the underpinnings of powerful institutions. Her most recent book, “Dark Money,” is about the Koch brothers’ deep influence on conservative politics. Mayer previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, where she covered the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, the Persian Gulf War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1984, she became the paper’s first female White House correspondent. A Yale University alumna, Mayer first worked as a journalist for two small weekly newspapers in Vermont, The Weathersfield Weekly and The Black River Tribune, before moving to the daily Rutland Herald. She speaks frequently about the value of investigative journalism — at news organizations of all sizes — and the need for a watchdog press. In addition to “Dark Money,” Mayer also wrote the 2008 best-seller “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals,” which is based on her New Yorker articles and was named one of the top 10 works of journalism of the decade by N.Y.U.’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her numerous honors include the John Chancellor Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship; the Goldsmith Book Prize; the Edward Weintal Prize; and a George Polk Award for magazine reporting in 2012.

Todd Wallack, The Boston Globe | Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award

A graduate of Northwestern University, Todd Wallack has worked for The Boston Globe since 2007. He is currently an investigative reporter for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, specializing in data journalism, public records and financial reporting. Wallack has won national awards from Scripps Howard and the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation for his work on public records and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times. Prior to his time at the the Globe, Wallack spent much of his career as a business reporter and worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Herald, Boston Business Journal, Network World, and the Dayton (Ohio) Daily news. Wallack will be honored for his body of work from 2017 that included stories about online accessibility to criminal records, transparency within the MBTA and the overuse of certain public record law exemptions to keep information secret. His reporting led to a lawsuit by The Boston Globe to compel the release of mugshots and arrest reports and he exposed the reluctance of state officials to share details of investigations that have grown cold.

Hyde Square Task Force | Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award

A team of youth volunteers at the Hyde Square Task Force last year found a 1993 state mandate that required the owners of the TD Garden to hold fundraisers every year to benefit the city’s recreational facilities. Under the supervision of a director at the Hyde Square Task Force, the group of teenagers were investigating ways to pay for a new recreation center and ice skating rink in their neighborhood. Through public record requests, the teens found that the state mandate had been ignored for more than 20 years. The city, they determined, was owed $14 million, enough money to cover the cost of building a new rec center and rink. TD Garden eventually agreed to pay $1.65 million to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. The state contributed $1 million to a new center and the city committed another $2 million. The Hyde Square Task Force volunteers are continuing to call for additional funding. The Hyde Square Task Force was founded in the late 1980s by a coalition of neighbors and community leaders who wanted to address the violence and economic and social challenges facing the Hyde/Jackson Square community in Jamaica Plain, a Boston neighborhood. The organization now engages more than 1,000 youth in college and career preparation, Afro-Latin arts and cultural enrichment, and community-building initiatives.

News and Press Coverage

• How Public Records Requests Helped Teens, But Still So Much To Do | Gatehouse Media 3.11.18
• Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award | Jamaica Plain Gazette 3.9.18
• Youth Speak to Truth to Power | Roger Williams University 2.28.18
• Public Records Crucial to the Watchdog Role of the Press | Roger Williams University 2.28.18
• Latest Attacks on the Free Press Will Fail | Roger Williams University 2.28.18
• Jane Mayer of The New Yorker Accepts NEFAC’s Highest Award | 2.26.18
• NEFAC to Address Legal Issues, Public Records at Convention; Luncheon Tickets Still Available | 2.20.18
• Hyde Square Task Force, Youth Volunteers to Receive 2018 Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award 1.30.18
• Todd Wallack of The Boston Globe to Receive NEFAC’s 2018 Freedom of Information Award | 1.25.18
• Ed Harding of WCVB to Emcee New England First Amendment Awards Luncheon | 1.22.18
• Deadline Approaching for NEFAC’s Annual Freedom of Information, Citizenship Awards | 1.11.18
• Jane Mayer, Investigative Journalist for New Yorker, to Receive First Amendment Award | 11.27.17
• NEFAC Accepting Nominations for Annual Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award; Deadline Jan. 15 | 11.14.17
• NEFAC Seeking Nominations for Annual Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award | 11.9.17

Sponsors and Table Hosts

WBUR | The Boston Globe | Boston University | Tom Fiedler | Boston 25 News | Northeastern University | University of New Hampshire | WCVB | Roger Williams University | Prince Lobel Tye LLP | Saint Michael’s College | University of Rhode Island | UMass Amherst | Central Connecticut State University | Emerson College

Patron Supporters and Other Contributors

New England Newspaper & Press Association | Karen Bordeleau | Donna Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

Event Photos