The Asian Television award for the Best Current Affairs Presenter was presented to Karan Thapar of the CNN-IBN at a glittering ceremony in Singapore on Thursday night.
There were over 65 entries from some 50 countries. The final shortlist of nominations included competitors from the CNN International, the Metro TV in Indonesia and the NDTV in India.
This is the fifth time that Mr. Thapar is winning the Best Current Affairs Presenter Award in the 15-year history of the Asian Television awards. He won the award in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007.
This year Mr. Thapar won the award for his “Devil's Advocate” interview programme. The winning interview with Ram Jethmalani was conducted in June. The subject was Mr. Jethmalani's controversial decision to rejoin the Bharatiya Janata Party. The interview ended abruptly when Mr. Jethmalani walked out in anger over questions that explored allegations of opportunism surrounding his return to the BJP.