The journalists | Fatima Syed and Emma McIntosh
When Premier Doug Ford first announced the provinceโs plan to open up parts of the Greenbelt โ and those parcels of land just happened to be owned by developer friends of his โ Ontarians were suspicious. But if it wasnโt for the intrepid reporters at independent media outlet The Narwhal, we might have never known for sure that the provincial government had substantial control over choosing which parcels of land to open for development and were directly influenced by the developers who benefited from them โ and Ford might have never finally reversed the decision to open the Greenbelt! The Narwhal reporter Emma McIntosh was one of the journalists who broke the first story, and her colleague Fatima Syed hasnโt let up on Ford either, exposing the provincial government as it attempts to quietly remove environmental protections, change land boundaries and gut conservation authorities. Armed with a whole lot of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, McIntosh and Syed are examples of the power of local journalism in a time when the media industry is continually underfunded and layoffs abound.
By Charlie Pinkerton – Colleague, Deputy editor, The Trillium
Emma McIntosh and Fatima Syed were covering Doug Fordโs developer connections before it was cool.
You can thank Emmaโs reporting if youโve heard about the controversies around Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass or that whole Greenbelt thing. A dogged document digger and detector of BS, Emma could spot a prothonotary warbler in a pack of blue-winged ones. Has the term โurban boundariesโ caught your attention as of late? Fatimaโs work preceded the Ford governmentโs Greenbelt-esque U-turn. Sheโs also mastered putting impacts on people at the centre of her reporting. Iโd say sheโs โfor the people,โ just perhaps not in the way youโre used to the term being used in Ontario politics.
Fatima and Emma have quickly ingrained independent publication the Narwhalโs eastward expansion as a force to be reckoned with at Queenโs Park. Their teamโs investigative work has prevented the environment from being an afterthought of Ontarioโs Progressive Conservative government. Each, as well, is a staunch believer in the importance of their craft โ both through their daily hustle and outspoken advocacy for their fellow journalists. Having earned a collectorsโ count of award nominations and wins between them in their careers already, Fatima and Emma should be stars in the industry for decades to come. As a colleague and competitor, itโs a pleasure โ and challenge โ to strive each day for the bar theyโre regularly raising for journalists.
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