Fresh back from British Journalism Awards. Delighted to present Gareth Browne from The Times with ‘New Journalist of the Year’ award for his coverage of ISIS. Grenfell Fire was the big domestic story and the tiny Inside Housing team rightly picked up ‘News organisation of the year’ beating their much larger Fleet Street rivals. IH reported extensively on fire safety in Tower Blocks including Grenfell before the fire. It was a pleasure to see so much good reporting and some old friends including Geoff Lean who as environment correspondent of The Observer successfully campaigned to have lead taken out of petrol.

The Washington Post says it has uncovered a failed “sting operation” by a group trying to peddle a sensational but false story to its journalists. A source told the newspaper she had been impregnated as a teenager by US politician Roy Moore………..

Dr Paul Lashmar, a journalism lecturer at London’s City University with a background in investigative journalism, said both groups have a valid stance.
With its “clearly political rather than journalistic agenda”, an organisation like Project Veritas is only beholden to its own ethical standards, he said, and for journalists, “it’s a very useful process, to know there are people out there ready to embarrass you if you don’t check out your story.”
Equally, he thinks it is “perfectly reasonable” of the Washington Post to release the details of off-the-record conversations – so long as it is done with care.
But “if someone is trying to entrap you, then it removes any duty of protection for that source,” he said.

The Washington Post says it has uncovered a failed “sting operation” by a group trying to peddle a sensational but false story to its journalists.

A source told the newspaper she had been impregnated as a teenager by US politician Roy Moore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42150322