“I have had the privilege of working with
Andy at the Toronto Star for more than a decade. He has played a vital role on
the investigations team at every stage of the process, from vetting data to
determine whether we have a story to cleaning and analyzing large data sets, to
verifying our numbers and conclusions on deadline, to make sure we’re
bulletproof. He has made essential contributions to many award-winning stories
and projects, and always keeps his cool under pressure.”
Rachel Mendleson
Staff Reporter
Toronto Star
“After two decades working with Andy on
large-scale data projects for Canada's largest newspaper, I can say he is,
without reservation, among the best in the data journalism business. He's
helped my colleagues and I navigate intractable data challenges, harnessing
massive volumes of data, analyzing it through a storytelling lens and creating
powerful accountability journalism that has changed public policy and countless
lives. Equally important, he does it all with grace, charm and collegiality
that are unmatched. Andy is that rare combination of genius and generosity. It
has been a great honor to work with him.”
Rob Cribb
Staff Reporter
Toronto Star
“I cannot speak highly enough about Andrew
Bailey, a data journalist extraordinaire. We hired Andy in 2005 to move the
Toronto Star – Canada’s largest newspaper – ahead in the field of data
journalism. Andy did that and more. With his insight and brilliance, we tackled
investigations in philanthropy, government corruption, public health – and so
many more topics.”
“As leader of the Investigative Team from
when Andy was hired, I can honestly say that I never found a task he couldn’t
succeed at. And Andy has grown and developed as the field and journalism has
expanded. Technical ability aside, Andy is the consummate team player and I
have seen him work incredibly well with data veterans and neophytes.”
“Finally,
one of the many things Andy did with us was teach – he came into a newsroom
where most knew little of data journalism and spread the word and how-to-do-it
knowledge to each and every person he worked with.”
Kevin Donovan
Chief Investigative Reporter
Toronto Star
“Andy has been an instrumental part of my
work as the Toronto Star’s Labour reporter. His acuity and hard work have
resulted in two award-winning projects that I am very proud to share with him.”
“The first was a Michener-nominated
undercover investigation into the use of temporary help agencies that took over
a year to complete. Thanks to Andy, we were able to prove for the first time in
Canada that temporary help agency workers were twice as likely to be injured on
the job, than their directly-hired counterparts. After these findings were
published, the Ontario government passed new laws that constituted some of the
strongest temp agency worker protections on the continent. Andy’s contributions
were invaluable to that outcome, and the project as a whole.”
“Andy also provided crucial data analysis
for an investigation into labour trafficking prosecutions in Canada. His work
helped demonstrate the rise of these prosecutions and synthesize significant
amounts of data on these cases. In addition to being hugely helpful during the
reporting process, Andy’s work also made these stories more accessible and
digestible for readers. The stories went on to win a National Newspaper Award
for best business story of the year, a CAJ award for labour reporting, and a
SABEW award for investigative reporting.”
“Andy is a joy to work with. He is
meticulous and sharp in his data analysis. But he also takes care to understand
why a story matters, and is truly committed to public service journalism. I
consider myself very lucky to have benefitted from his talent.”
Sara Mojtehedzadeh
Investigations, Work and Wealth
Toronto Star
“Andy Bailey’s excellent data skills,
combined with his innate journalistic instincts, have served as the sturdy
foundation for dozens and dozens of Toronto Star investigations into everything
from racial disparities in police stops, arrests and use of force, to
inequities in how children and youth are treated by children’s aid societies,
to unsafe levels of lead in drinking water. I’ve had the extreme pleasure of
being one of many journalists to work with Andy on some of these most impactful
Canadian public service journalism stories in the past 20 years. I am biased —
perhaps because I also consider Andy a friend — but I can think of no better
data mastermind to work with than Andy. He is curious, creative, diligent,
questioning, quick to respond and utterly dependable. I would call him a
'secret weapon,' but with so many bylines on so many big stories, that secret
was out long ago. His name is on almost all of them. A pleasure to work
with."
Jim Rankin
Staff Reporter-Photographer
Toronto Star
“Andy’s rare talent and energy in scrappy
pursuit has propelled some of our newsroom’s most indelible stories. His
foundational work has helped us:
· - Reveal
massive regulatory gaps that allow nursing home staff to abuse vulnerable
residents;
· - Hold
accountable charity executives who use heartbreaking pitches to solicit
donations then spend the money on themselves;
· - Unearth
a deeply flawed workplace injury insurance program that was actually paying out
rebates to dangerous factories that kill workers;
· - Expose
egregious profiting at public expense by doctors who overbill Ontario’ public
health care system;
· - Reviewed
details of nearly 1,000 murder cases involving Indigenous women to identify
trends and help guide our reporters as they investigated why a decades-long
scourge was being largely ignored by police.”
“None of these stories could have been done
if not for Andy, who is dogged yet patient, curious and creative but
laser-focused, and has skills few others have and yet always find time to teach
others in the newsroom.”
David Bruser
Editor of Investigations
Toronto Star