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Ginny Stein

Journalist, Dateline, SBS

Biographical Notes from The Walkley Awards website 2007

All Media - International Journalism - Winner

Ginny Stein, Dateline, SBS TV, "Burma – Inside the Secret City"

Video journalist Ginny Stein joined Dateline in 2002 after four years reporting in South-East Asia for the ABC. In that period she covered the conflict in East Timor and the ousting of President Soeharto.

Stein divides her time between bases in Sydney and Thailand.

A four-time Walkley finalist, this is Stein's first Walkley award.

In 2006, Stein travelled to Burma with the idea of reporting on Burmese dissidents who had begun to speak out after years of harassment. On a tourist visa and often forced to film with a hidden camera, Stein found herself in the nation's new capital city, seen only by a handful of outsiders.

Judges' comments

This is brave and fascinating reporting that takes the viewer into one of the world's most closed societies.

The reporter took considerable risks in order to get this story. Stein tapped into the bubbling tensions that have since exploded.

All Media - Investigative Journalism - Winner

Ginny Stein, Dateline, SBS TV, "Rwanda – Questions of Murder"

In a dogged and compelling investigation that took the reporter across six countries in almost as many months, Ginny Stein pursued justice on a story that many people have forgotten.

After hearing about Callixte Mbarushimana through a UN contact in Burma, Stein tracked down the former UN staffer accused of murdering 32 people – including some of his UN colleagues – during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

A classic investigation based on legwork, supported by documentation and interviews with eyewitnesses and former colleagues of Mbarushimana, Stein exposed the UN's powerlessness to prosecute. It was a powerful contrast with the still raw grief and frustration of the families and friends of Mbarushimana's victims.

Judges' comments

A report that used an awful lot of shoe leather. Stein gathered damning evidence from witnesses, investigators and former UN staffers and conducted a confrontational interview with the alleged perpetrator in Paris. It concluded with a remarkably frank apology by the UN about their failure to bring the attacker to justice.