Nick Ferrari, the new chair of the awards judges said:<\/p>\n
“If you thought you’d been involved in every possible type of story there was, from resignations to royal deaths, political meltdowns to murders and wars to massacres, 2020 has proved to be a year like no other – and while coverage of the devastating Covid pandemic does not feature in these awards but will undoubtedly feature next year, what the pandemic has done is to underscore the essential role journalists and journalism has to play.<\/p>\n
“It’s only if you’re fortunate to work in the ‘professional’ media that you are aware of how seriously the responsibilities of delivering the news are taken. It makes no difference whether you’re working in radio, print, television or online, it is a role of crucial importance.<\/p>\n
“And it also puts so many of you on the frontline of the fight against fake news and against some of the malicious material and unsubstantiated junk that is – somehow – allowed to be ‘published’ by social media companies.<\/p>\n
“This is the first year I have had the privilege of being the chairman of these awards and it was indeed a daunting prospect to take the reins from someone such as Bill Hagerty, who has presided over the judging for many years deploying the skill and humour of a barrister, as well as the steely resolve of a Brexit negotiator. He is part Rumpole, part Barnier – and I was fortunate he allowed me to persuade him to stay on the jury to guide my debut.<\/p>\n
“Whether it was discussing the merits of exclusives, skills of high-profile writers or any of the other categories, it was a judging process that was passionate and considered – therefore, in a way, perfectly reflecting the great industry if represents.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Nick Ferrari, the new chair of the awards judges said: “If you thought you’d been involved in every possible type of story there was, from resignations to royal deaths, political meltdowns to murders and wars to massacres, 2020 has proved to be a year like no other – and while coverage of the devastating Covid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\n