“Common sense is badly named,” says Steve Murphy, laughing and thanking this reporter for calling to speak to him in the morning, hours away from deadlines. Murphy kindly remarks that winning in this category and making the cover of The Coast in November ‘06 was “the highlight of the year.” This year he’s been busy reporting news of the offshore oil deal and whether RodMac’s compromise with Ottawa is good for the province. “The details can be bedeviling,” he says. Also on Murphy’s mind, the showdown over health care workers’ right to strike (a “sleeping dog issue that could affect everyone”) and the loss of our young people to jobs away. “I feel the pain of losing people to the west,” he says, though is hopeful that if the off-shore infrastructure comes together we might be in a position to “win some back.”
First runner up: Bruce Frisko, CTV Atlantic
Second runner up: Norma Lee MacLeod, CBC Television
