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Data can add colour and depth to investigative journalism, Sopa’s Media Insiders webinar told

  • South China Morning Post wins two prizes at Sopa’s 2020 Editorial Awards
  • Publicly available data at the heart of winning Post story

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The winning Post journalists with their Sopa award. Photo: Tory Ho
SCMP Reporter

A combination of data and investigative journalism can change a report into a story worth telling, giving it colour and depth, the Media Insiders webinar, organised by the Society of Publishers in Asia (Sopa) to celebrate its 2020 Editorial Awards, heard on Thursday.

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The South China Morning Post won two prizes at the awards, the region’s top annual prize for publishing, which were held on August 26. Tammy Tam, the Post’s Editor-in-Chief, praised the winners for their hard work and journalistic excellence, and said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been honoured yet again, with another round of these prestigious awards.”

A lot more data is available now than previously, Eugene Tang, the Post’s Business Editor, said during the webinar on Thursday. When wisely used, this publicly available data will make investigative reporting stand out and will reveal why things happen, rather than just what happened, Tang said.

Publicly available data was at the heart of one of the Post’s investigative stories that won the awards this year. A team of six reporters led by Peggy Sito, the newspaper’s deputy business editor, examined how Hong Kong’s unaffordable housing had contributed to wide-scale grievances that fuelled the city’s anti-government protests last year. The story, which won Sopa’s award for Excellence in Business Reporting, was part of a 17-part series on Hong Kong’s protests, and was co-written by Property Editor Sandy Li, Hong Kong News Editor Denise Tsang and Property Reporter Lam Ka-sing, with additional reporting by Senior Correspondent Enoch Yiu and Business Reporter Martin Choi.

Dayu Zhang, a video producer at the Post, meanwhile, won the Excellence in Video Reporting for The Thin Yellow Line , which looks at Protect the Children, a volunteer community group established amid Hong Kong’s anti-government protests dedicated to shielding activists from the police.

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“Our colleagues continue to demonstrate the excellence in journalism that we pursue at the Post. We take great pride in their achievements,” Tam said.

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