Reluctant journalist wins top gong

AUSTRALIA
SBS

The journalist whose stories about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church prompted a royal commission has won the nation’s top journalism award.

A reluctant journalist whose work on the issue of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church prompted a royal commission has won Australia’s top journalism award.

Joanne McCarthy, who wrote a series of articles for the Newcastle Herald, won the Gold Walkley Award at a ceremony in Brisbane on Thursday.

She told a room crowded with some of the nation’s most respected journalists that she took great pride from her role in prompting a royal commission into the issue.

“This was about a hell of a lot of individuals in the end across the country who just decided enough was enough,” she said during her acceptance speech.

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