Irish Examiner and Evening Echo clean up at Justice Media Awards

The Irish Examiner and Evening Echo have swept the boards at the Law Society of Ireland’s Justice Media Awards.

Evening Echo security correspondent Ann Murphy won the regional newspaper accolade and the overall award, while Irish Examiner crime correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe won the daily newspaper accolade.

Ms Murphy’s series, ‘When love breaks down — relationship law in Ireland’, ranged from waiting times for legal aid in family law cases, annulment and divorce law, and alternative solutions to family law conflicts, to the complex issues around domestic violence.

The judges said it was “an almost perfect look at the laws dealing with the breakdown of relationships”.

“Such was the depth of her research that the work was published as a week-long series of articles featuring expert opinion, statistics, explanations of complex legal topics, and shocking insights into the plight of domestic violence victims,” the judges said. “This work is a standout piece from a journalist who has proven herself to be an excellent contributor to the public discourse on law and the legal system.”

Mr O’Keeffe’s piece, ‘When life doesn’t mean life’, was praised as an excellent example of using a real-life case to examine a difficult aspect of the legal system.

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“The author brings the reader on a journey, from the night a young woman was murdered, the impact her death had on the family she left behind, to their experience of the subsequent trial, sentencing, and eventual release of the man convicted of killing her, despite having had a life sentence imposed on him for his crime,” the judges said. “The journalist skilfully combined this powerful personal story with analysis of the changing patterns in average jail time served by so-called ‘lifers’, a critical examination of the term ‘mandatory life sentence’, and comment from those advocating for victims and their families.”

At the awards at Blackhall Place in Dublin, Law Society president Kevin O’Higgins said:

“Irish journalists, and journalism, have been faced with challenges in recent times; some familiar, some quite unprecedented. Out of these, we have seen quality reporting and journalistic integrity shine through.”