I'm proud to announce that I've won this year's award for Excellence in Science and Technology Reporting from the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. For those of you who don't know, CATA is Canada's high-tech association and represents about 28,000 folks working in the industry. The award was decided by popular vote, so it's a special honor to be recognized by the people who are most likely to have read my work over at CBC Technology.
I had a good time last night at the gala awards dinner in Ottawa and even managed to sneak in a quick acceptance speech. I'll post some pictures and links when I get them but in the meantime check out this barely audible video of my acceptance:
As I mentioned in the speech, winning the award is particularly satisfying because it's a stamp of approval on the type of journalism I try to do, which is issues-based rather than so much of the product-based tech reporting out there. Reporting on important consumer issues such as net neutrality, copyright reform and competition problems - like the woeful state of Canada's cellphone market - often rubs those in power the wrong way, especially when exposing a lot of the bull that goes on, so it's nice to see some back-up from the people who matter most: the readers.
Taking myself out of the equation, it was also nice to see CATA acknowledge online journalism through this award. I've spent almost my entire career working in newspapers, having only made the jump to full online with the CBC about a year and a half ago. I can honestly say we online reporters still don't get nearly half the attention or respect from sources as traditional print journalists do. I can only hope that more awards for the online world - which, let's face it, is the future of journalism - can change this outdated view.
Taking home a similar honour for French language media was Bruno Guglielminetti, who covers technology for the CBC's French arm, Radio Canada. Bruno, who I've never met before but is nevertheless a colleague, made a very strong point during his speech - that it was ironic that two CBC journalists were being honored for their work just as our employer is about to embark on massive layoffs. The CBC, if you haven't heard, is cutting 800 people, most of whom (myself included) are anxiously waiting until next week to find out if they have jobs or not. It's a crying shame that amid all the talk of government help and buyouts for various industries, a few extra dollars couldn't be found for, you know, a broadcaster that is actually funded by that very government.
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2 comments:
Congratulations, Pete!
There's some irony that the folks at the awards for technological reporting can't quite manage to get gear that's appropriate for the task at hand up and running, given that your business consists largely of (a) technology and (b) recording things.
There's two issues here; one is the (obvious) poor treatment of the Mother Corp. by the Harper government, which frankly comes as no surprise -- the Conservatives have been trying to dismantle the CBC since the Mulroney era, back when they were Progressive Conservatives and not the re-re-renamed Reform Party.
The second issue is more interesting; the conflation of "tech journalism" to encompass both issues-based reporting and product-based reporting. I'd argue that this isn't a problem with technology journalism as much as it is with journalism in general, and it's just easier to see the difference in tech journalism because when people, politicians, and movements are commodified it's a bit harder to tell where the "issue" ends and the "product" begins. At least you can still draw a line in your end of the field, as it gets harder and harder to tell political reporting from brand management.
It's good to see online journalists working on material of substance. The commodification problem -- marketing as journalism -- is unfortunately even easier to pull off online than it is in dead-tree media, given the ephemeral nature of the stuff, so I suspect there's going to be a dip somewhere after the death of the daily paper and the birth of truly great online reporting as people (hopefully) realize that substance is important.
Good points Matt. I think there will always be some level of reporting on products because the rate of technological change is just so rapid. New cool stuff seems to come out on an almost daily basis and sometimes when you see this stuff and think about how it's going to change the way you do things, you can't help but want to tell other people about it.
On the other hand, stepping back and taking a look at the issues is, I believe, far more important. I've often harped on how, for example, Canada is spiraling downward in international broadband rankings, or how woeful our cellphone uptake is. This is very important stuff beyond just silly national pride - our ability to use technology to compete against other parts of the world directly affects our economy and standard of living. I don't think any Canadian wants to live in a second-rate country, which is why it's important to draw attention to these problems and get them fixed before it's too late.
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