Guardian Australia’s Melbourne bureau chief Melissa Davey’s investigation into the disgraced gynaecologist Emil Shawky Gayed, which sparked a police investigation and independent inquiry, was awarded a Walkley award for Women’s Leadership in Media at the 2019 mid-year celebrations.
Davey revealed the Taree-based regional New South Wales doctor needlessly removed women’s reproductive organs and performed unnecessary surgeries on his patients. Other women were allegedly left with life-threatening infections. One of his patients died.
A year after “The investigation into Dr Gayed” story was published detectives from the NSW police child abuse and sex crimes squad launched a strike force to investigate Gayed and his scores of alleged victims.
The award “honours women who are making an outstanding journalistic contribution to gender equality and the visibility of women in society – both in Australia and on a global scale”.
“It celebrates reporting that demonstrates notable innovation, enterprise or courage in raising awareness of women’s experiences and perspectives, and reflects the significance of media coverage in altering perceptions, challenging stereotypes and fighting misinformation,” the foundation said at the ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday.
Melissa Davey wins #walkleys Women’s Leadership in Media for 2019. Congratulations @MelissaLDavey! @GuardianAus. @PwC_AU pic.twitter.com/aq24sLhM2D
— Walkley Foundation (@walkleys) June 26, 2019
The revelations also triggered the NSW government to order an independent inquiry into Gayed, the hospitals where he worked and the way complaints against him were managed.
The inquiry was led by the high-profile lawyer Gail Furness SC, who delivered her findings in February. Furness also referred the treatment of more than 50 women to the Health Care Complaints Commission for further investigation and, in a rare move, handed her report over to NSW police. She found his actions may have contributed to the death of a baby boy.
The other Walkley nominees in the category were Lorna Knowles, Jo Puccini and Alison McClymont for their ABC report on #MeToo in the Australian Greens, and News Corp’s Sherele Moody for “Who. Where. When. How: Paying Tribute to Murdered Women & Children”.
The Walkley Mid-Year celebrations recognise reporting on particular issues, emerging talent and scholarship recipients.
The ABC Darwin reporter Oliver Gordon was named the 2019 Young Australian Journalist of the Year for his radio current affairs story The Black & White Hotel on Radio National’s Background Briefing. Gordon revealed that an Alice Springs Hotel was engaging in racial profiling.
The Guardian columnist Jeff Sparrow won the Walkley for Arts Criticism for his review A Place of Punishment: No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani in the Sydney Review of Books, and Jane Howard won the Walkley for Arts Journalism for her investigation How Australian theatre rebalanced its gender disparity, published by the ABC.
The public broadcaster performed strongly, with wins in several other categories, including the Media Diversity Australia Award, which was won by the creators of You Can’t Ask That for episodes on Deaf, African Australians and Intersex people, and the Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women and Children, which was awarded to Sarah Dingle and the Background Briefing team for a series of reports.
The full list of mid-year winners can be found here.
