The Chicago-based Better Government Association handed out awards for investigative reporting. The top prize went to WBBM-TV for a story about a police raid on the wrong home, which the City of Chicago tried and failed to suppress in federal court before it aired.
During the awards ceremony, guest speaker Ron Nixon said investigative reporters "still have a critical role to play in society." Nixon is the global investigations editor at The Associated Press.
The Shop Talk panelists are concerned about the future of investigative journalism in Chicago, especially given the recent sale of the Chicago Tribune to hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which has a track record of buying newspapers and then cutting staff.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier, the students at student radio station The Dog, and the WIU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; Rajvee Subramanian, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
