Bureau reporter shortlisted for British Journalism Awards
Bureau journalist Maeve McClenaghan has been shortlisted for a British Journalism Award in the category, New Journalist of the Year.
McClenaghan, who has worked at the Bureau for two years, was shortlisted for her work investigating the impact of budget cuts on the criminal justice system.
Over six months McClenaghan collected information via Freedom of Information requests, data analysis and scores of interviews, to piece together the investigation. The work resulted in a series of web and print articles on the topic, including a front-page story in the Observer.
The investigation revealed dramatic cuts to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers, an increase in failure to prepare for serious trials, and a rise in the number of trials failing for basic administrative problems.
Research into the police found some forces taking 30% longer to reach emergency call-outs since budget cuts were brought in. The investigation also found a 23% increase between 2010 and 2012 in the number of 999 emergency telephone calls not answered by the closest police force, but instead being bounced on to a neighbouring force.
Shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the Bureau’s revelations were ‘very worrying’. She said, ‘These figures show the service the police provide to the public is being hollowed out.’
Read Maeve’s stories on budget cuts and the justice system here.
Other nominees in the category are Alex Ralph (The Times), Fiona O’Cleirigh (Exaro News), Patrick Kingsley (The Guardian), Sarah Morrison (The Independent) and Simon Murphy (The Mail on Sunday).
The award is open to journalists with less than three years experience.
This is the second year that the British Journalism Awards have been running.
Last year Emma Slater won the same award for her work at the Bureau, which included a study into drone strikes in Yemen, published in the The Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald, an analysis of Iranian TV station Press TV – accused of faking reports of Somalia drone strikes which ran in The Guardian, and a special report into Supergrass deals in Northern Ireland which was published in The Independent and became the basis of a programme for BBC Panorama.
McClenaghan joined the Bureau team after winning a three month internship through our Young Journalist competition, back in 2011. Her winning investigation looked at ‘neglected tropical diseases’ and the inequity in public health spending.
The British Journalism Awards winners will be announced on Monday, 2 December.
