Luke LeBrun, the Editor of PressProgress, is the recipient of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression’s 2024 Arnold Amber Award for Investigative journalism.
The award, which recognizes significant contributions to advancing public interest reporting in Canada and is sponsored by CWA Canada, was presented in Toronto on October 23 at CJFE’s annual gala honouring courageous reporting.
“In a time when disinformation and conspiracy theories masquerade as news, LeBrun shines a powerful light on who is behind the growing influence of far-right media, putting names and faces to those who live in the shadows,” CJFE said in announcing LeBrun as this year’s award winner.
His investigative work names the individuals and exposes the organizations that operate from the shadows, helping safeguard the truth in an increasingly complex media landscape.”
“In a time when disinformation and conspiracy theories masquerade as news, LeBrun shines a powerful light on who is behind the growing influence of far-right media, putting names and faces to those who live in the shadows,”
LeBrun joins the Globe and Mail’s Robyn Doolittle, Vice Media’s Ben Makuch and TSN’s Rick Westhead, three journalists who have previously received the Arnold Amber Award for Investigative Journalism since it was first created in 2017.
Arnold Amber, one of the founders of CJFE, was a top newsroom leader for decades at CBC News and the longtime president of the Canadian Media Guild, CWA Canada Local 30213, which represents unionized media workers at CBC.
“Amber was a labour leader and an advocate for press freedoms,” LeBrun told the gala. “But he was also someone who understood that critical journalism is essential to our democracy.”
Since joining PressProgress shortly after it launched in 2013, much of LeBrun’s reporting has focused on right-wing politics and far-right extremism, casting a critical eye on right-wing media outlets and online influencers that work to stoke divisions and mislead Canadians.
During the Freedom Convoy, LeBrun’s reporting filled an important gap in coverage by focusing on the convoy’s underreported impacts on residential neighbourhoods and surrounding rural communities.
LeBrun has also surfaced strange stories about far-right food and book festivals, conspiratorial far-right groups that live in corn fields, dilapidated barns and rest stops on the sides of highways, as well as the mainstream conservative politicians who appear eager to welcome their support and echo their extreme rhetoric.
“I’m concerned that a lot of the wacky and disturbing things I cover are actually symptoms of a democracy where our media is in decline and the way we consume information is broken,” LeBrun said.
“We are seeing newsrooms across Canada get hit by round after round of layoffs, news outlets are shutting down, there’s fewer resources than ever dedicated to investigative journalism and keeping the public informed,” LeBrun said, adding that “at the same time, we’re also seeing news content being throttled or outright blocked on social media platforms.”
“The end result is an information vacuum that is increasingly being filled by low-quality content, foreign disinformation or just plain unhinged conspiracies.”
“I think this represents a real threat to democracy.”
CJFE also presented Palestinian photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf and Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayuub with international press freedom awards.