The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia welcomed five members of an award-winning investigative reporting project at the McGill Medal Round Table Discussion on Wednesday in Grady College’s Drewry Room.
The five journalists, from various publications based in the California Bay Area, discussed their responsibilities and duties in the Chauncey Bailey Project, an investigative report surrounding the death of the former Oakland Tribune reporter and Oakland Post editor-in-chief the project is named after.
The two-year project has won numerous awards for its influence on investigative journalism, including Best Practices Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, as well as the Knight Public Service Award and Investigative Journalism Award in the Small Site Category by the Online News Association.
The project has also been recognized by Columbia University and now the University of Georgia, who awarded the journalists with McGill Medals for Journalistic Courage following the discussion.
“It’s very flattering and very surreal just to be invited to this,” said Josh Richman, a reporter with the Bay Area News Group and a member of the project.
Richman was joined by fellow Bay Area News Group reporter Thomas Peele and project editor Mike Oliver, as well as independent journalists Bob Butler and Mary Fricker.
The journalists were asked questions by McGill fellows, made up of University of Georgia undergraduate and graduate Journalism students, as well as Grady College faculty. Bailey’s sister, Lorelei Waqia, and her son, Nasim Tindall, also attended the discussion.
The project, formed in 2007 following Bailey’s death, investigated the reasons for his murder, which subsequently uncovered an organized crime service being operated through an Oakland bakery. The murderer, Devaughndre Broussard, was found guilty of murder through the journalists’ evidence.
“We believe that our reporting resulting in indictment,” Butler said. “It reaffirmed belief and really educated people about investigative reporting.”
Loreli Waqia (l), sister of murdered journalist Chauncey Bailey, chats with McGill Fellow Devora Olin. Olin, a master's student in the Grady College, researched the nomination of the four journalists whose reporting on The Chauncey Bailey Project earned them the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage.
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