Fired CMAJ editors get press freedom award
Last Updated Wed, 03 May 2006 11:34:09 EDT
A media organization has honoured two editors who were fired from their jobs at the Canadian Medical Association Journal with its 2006 press freedom award.
Dr. John Hoey, the journal's editor, and senior deputy editor Anne Marie Todkill lost their jobs in February, after opposing the publisher's decision to quash part of a journal investigation into whether pharmacists were invading the privacy of women who wanted to buy emergency contraceptives.
The National Press Club of Canada said it would present them with this year's World Press Freedom award for their courage.
The presentation ceremony for the $2,000 award was scheduled for Wednesday, which journalists around the world mark as World Press Freedom Day.
"Editors should be free to express critical but responsible views about all aspects of medicine without fear of retribution, even if those views might conflict with the commercial goals of the publisher," Spencer Moore of the press club told the Canadian Press before the ceremony.
Hoey and Todkill have not spoken publicly about the specific events leading up to their firing. Both had signed confidentiality agreements before the controversy arose.
However, details of the conflict with journal publisher Graham Morris have leaked out, and led the publication's entire editorial board to resign in protest.
Judge steps down from CMAJ panel
In another development Wednesday, a prominent judge named to a panel created after the controversy announced he was stepping down because of poor health.
Former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Antonio Lamer, 72, was the chair of the panel launched to recommend a new governance structure for the journal, which is owned by the Canadian Medical Association.
The doctors' organization said it would name a replacement for Lamer within a few days.
From: ruby rahn <rubyrm@mac.com>Date: May 3, 2006 2:08:22 PM CDT
C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :Fired CMAJ editors get press freedom award
Last Updated Wed, 03 May 2006 11:34:09 EDT
A media organization has honoured two editors who were fired from their jobs at the Canadian Medical Association Journal with its 2006 press freedom award.
- INDEPTH: CMAJ firings
Dr. John Hoey, the journal's editor, and senior deputy editor Anne Marie Todkill lost their jobs in February, after opposing the publisher's decision to quash part of a journal investigation into whether pharmacists were invading the privacy of women who wanted to buy emergency contraceptives.
The National Press Club of Canada said it would present them with this year's World Press Freedom award for their courage.
The presentation ceremony for the $2,000 award was scheduled for Wednesday, which journalists around the world mark as World Press Freedom Day.
"Editors should be free to express critical but responsible views about all aspects of medicine without fear of retribution, even if those views might conflict with the commercial goals of the publisher," Spencer Moore of the press club told the Canadian Press before the ceremony.
Hoey and Todkill have not spoken publicly about the specific events leading up to their firing. Both had signed confidentiality agreements before the controversy arose.
- FROM MARCH 16, 2006: Most of CMAJ's editorial board quits
However, details of the conflict with journal publisher Graham Morris have leaked out, and led the publication's entire editorial board to resign in protest.
Judge steps down from CMAJ panel
In another development Wednesday, a prominent judge named to a panel created after the controversy announced he was stepping down because of poor health.
Former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Antonio Lamer, 72, was the chair of the panel launched to recommend a new governance structure for the journal, which is owned by the Canadian Medical Association.
The doctors' organization said it would name a replacement for Lamer within a few days.
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