Tag Archives: Fiona McGarry

The Clare Champion walked away with the award for Best News Story at last night’s Local Ireland Media Awards. The award went to Fiona McGarry for her story on the Clare Pyrite campaign’s success after a three year struggle. Ms McGarry, who now works for the University of Galway, dedicated the award to Clare pyrite campaigner, Dr Martine Cleary, and to the team at The Clare Champion. The Clare Champion was nominated in four separate categories for the prestigious awards. Dan Danaher was shortlisted in the ‘Best News Series’ category for his highlighting of the impact UHL overcrowding has had on patients. Photographer John Kelly was nominated for a gong in the ‘Best Photograph’ category for his image titled ‘Back Down from the Big Schmoke’. In the ‘National Lottery Best Community Journalist’ category, Jessica Quinn was nominated for her story ‘Knitting the World Back Together’ outlining the efforts of a group of local volunteers to raise money for charity while …

CLARE Champion journalist Fiona McGarry has been recognised by NUI Galway as the winner of the 2021 winner of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award in Journalism and Communication award. Fiona, who is a lecturer in broadcast journalism at the university, described the recognition as a “huge honour”. The award is voted on by students in the Discipline of Journalism and Communication, and recognises the lecturer who receives the overall highest marks in student evaluation of teaching scores annually. Fiona was awarded the top prize for her commitment to high quality teaching, focus on student learning and the delivery of an outstanding student experience. Head of Journalism and Communication Tom Felle said, “Fiona is an outstanding lecturer and this award recognises her commitment to our students. “The last year and a half has been extremely difficult for students in schools and universities around the country, so this award for Fiona is a testament to all the hard work she has …

INVESTMENT in quality journalism is essential to combat the rise of so-called fake news, a conference in Limerick has been told. The use of click-bait and fake news to drive traffic to online news and social media sites, allied to a lack of media literacy amongst many members of the public, were some of the factors cited as influencing the rise of this phenomenon at the event in King John’s Castle. Organised by the Irish South-West Branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII), the conference entitled Local News Matters featured a panel of speakers offering different perspectives on the theme of ‘The Truth in the News? The role of quality journalism in an era of fake news’. The panelists were Emma O’Kelly, RTE’s Education Correspondent, Cian Connaughton, President of the PRII and Fiona McGarry, Producer of Clare FM’s flagship current affairs programme, Morning Focus. The debate was chaired by Nandi O’Sullivan, …