‘Bad Medicine’, a one-hour PrimeTime Investigates report on the scandal of medical negligence in this country, was named Overall Winner of the Law Society’s Justice Media Awards competition.
The competition is aimed at rewarding outstanding journalism in the print and broadcast media which contributes to the public’s understanding of the law, the legal system or any specific legal issue.
At a ceremony in the Law Society’s headquarters in Dublin, the award was presented to the Prime Time Investigates team of reporter Mike Milotte and producer Mary Raftery. As Overall Winner, they received a Dublin Crystal vase and a cheque for €1,500.
Milotte, together with Angela Daly, also won the television category in the Justice Media Awards for another Prime Time Investigates programme..
Explaining the judges’ decision, Law Society Director General Ken Murphy said: ‘This was wonderful investigative journalism, characterised by superb production values. Prime Time Investigates sets the standard for all current affairs broadcasting in this country. In our view, these Prime Time Investigates programmes are superior to any current affairs documentaries in recent years from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or indeed any TV broadcasts we can receive in Ireland.”
The winners in each of the four other categories in the competition won a Justice Award, comprising a Dublin Crystal Joyce plate (and a €750 cheque), with the runners-up receiving a Certificate of Merit (and a cheque for €250).
The Justice Award for television was presented to Mike Milotte and producer Angela Daly for their Prime Time Investigates report, ‘The Planning Game’, an investigation into widespread and repeated breaches of planning legislation by developers.
Certificates of Merit went to Sharon Ni Bheolain for a report she did for Prime Time Investigates in March of this year, examining loopholes in animal welfare legalisation, and Prime Time’s Eithne O’Brien and Niamh O’Connor for their report ‘Rough Justice’, broadcast in October last year. The programme looked at the Irish legal system from the point of view of the victims of crime.
This brings to seven the number of awards won by Prime Time and Prime Time Investigates in recent weeks. It picked up the Irish Film and Television Award in the Best Current Affairs/News category for a programme on Intellectual Disability by reporter Keelin Shanley and producer/director Janet Traynor and also won the Best Television Documentary and the supreme award of Journalist of the Year in the 2004 ESB Media Awards
for their “superb body of work over the course of the year.”
The first in the new series of Prime Time Investigates: Limerick – A Tale of Two Cities was broadcast on RTE One on Monday the 29th of November and was watched by an audience of 527,000 people.
