By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
InDepthNH reporter Damien Fisher was presented the prestigious Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award recently by the New England First Amendment Coalition at a ceremony at the Hotel Commonwealth in Boston.
“Damien Fisher is a fierce defender of government transparency and regularly uses the New Hampshire Right to Know Law to fight against secrecy,” NEFAC said in announcing the award.
“His recent reporting includes the award-winning investigative story, ‘What Really Happened to Michael Carney,’ an in-depth report on the secrecy surrounding two deaths in the Monadnock region. Fisher’s use of the Right to Know Law last year also resulted in stories about a police chief accused of falsifying records, a corrections officer being reinstated after a questionable use of force and the hiding of evidence by the state’s Department of Corrections,” NEFAC said.
Fisher thanked NEFAC’s Justin Silverman and Greg Sullivan. “I’m incredibly grateful to be recognized by NEFAC for what I do. I’d say more, but I have a 91a to send.”
Fisher will be accepting an unrelated award, the A-Mark Prize for investigative reporting on Oct. 9 at the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s Leadership Summit at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge, Mass. The specific prize each winner receives will be revealed during the awards luncheon.
At the NEFAC awards in Boston, Fisher was introduced by Diane Foley, the mother of slain journalist James W. Foley.
James W. Foley was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting in Syria, starved and tortured for nearly two years before his public beheading for being an American journalist. He received the Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award posthumously.
“Damien Fisher is a committed freelance journalist from New Hampshire, like Jim,” Diane Foley said. “While Jim was drawn to human stories in the Middle East, Damien has investigated equally important local stories.”
Fisher told the audience he was humbled to receive the same award that Diane Foley had accepted on behalf of her son years before.
Fisher told the gathering about his nontraditional background in becoming a journalist after dropping out of high school, talking himself into college and dropping out there.
“I became a reporter because I needed the money and nobody told me there wasn’t any,” Fisher said to an appreciative audience.
Some days can be discouraging for a reporter when having to go to court so often to obtain public records.
Watch Fisher’s acceptance speech here: https://youtu.be/pioFFFppUHM?si=L51Ytpe6EwKDecYY
“I shouldn’t have to go to court to get documents that we should all be able to have access to…I shouldn’t be unsurprised every time I get lied to by a public official… every time they stall out on one of my requests,” Fisher said.
He shouldn’t have to get ahold of a lawyer as often as he does, Fisher said, but singled out attorney Tony Soltani who has been helpful.
One recent right-to-know request from a state agency was 100 perceent redacted, Fisher said.
“I go to court. I pick these fights. I dig through records. I annoy a lot of people because somebody has to do it,” Fisher said, adding New Hampshire has many terrific reporters.
He mentioned Todd Bookman of New Hampshire Public Radio for his recent reporting that ultimately led to the resignation of the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
“But there’s not enough of us who do that, not enough of us who have the freedom to do that,” Fisher said.
The award is named after Michael Donoghue, an award-winning news and sports writer in Vermont who worked for more than 40 years at the Burlington Free Press and now is a freelancer. The FOI Award is given each year to a New England journalist or team of journalists for a body of work from the previous calendar year that protects or advances the public’s right to know under federal or state law. Preference is given to those who overcome significant official resistance. InDepthNH.org founder Nancy West received the award in 2023.
At the ceremony, NEFAC also honored the Hon. William G. Young with the Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award and Samson Cournane with the Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award.
The New England First Amendment Coalition defends, promotes and expands public access to government and the work it does. The coalition is a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of transparency in a democratic society. Its members include lawyers, journalists, historians, librarians and academicians, as well as private citizens and organizations whose core beliefs include the principles of the First Amendment.