The Mumbai Press Club’s RedInk Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism, 2017, were presented on Wednesday evening at a glittering awards ceremony at the National Centre for Perfoming Arts. With 15 categories, they are the biggest journalism awards in India where winners are chosen by their peers.
Veteran journalist Vinod Dua was recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Raj Kamal Jha was presented the Journalist of the Year award.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief guest, told the audience that he does not buy the argument that there is a threat to the fourth estate: “Constructive journalism always has its own value and at the same time we are open to criticism. Tolerance is in the blood of Indians. India traditionally had been a tolerant society. Our democracy is very strong and it has survived turbulence in the past. The democratic system evolves and corrects itself.”
Mr. Fadnavis, who ensured the passage of the Maharashtra’s Journalist Protection Act, was also felicitated by the Mumbai Press Club.
Veteran Vinod Dua was recognised for his extensive and versatile contribution to journalism in different formats with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Dua was among the country’s first psephologists, co-anchoring election analysis programmes alongside Dr. Prannoy Roy on Doordarshan, and continues to be an active journalist today, as Contributing Editor of TheWireHindi.com where he anchors a popular news show, Jan Gan Man Ki Baat . Receiving the award, Mr. Dua said, “It is not just an award, it is an honour to me.”
Raj Kamal Jha, Chief Editor of the Indian Express , was named Journalist of the Year, for providing exemplary stewardship over the last couple of years to the newspaper, restoring what it has always been known best for: investigative journalism. Mr. Jha led from the front, when Indian Express was part of an international investigative team that cracked the global money laundering scam known as ‘The Panama Papers’. “This award belongs to the Indian Express, the entire team,” Mr. Jha said. He expressed optimism about young journalists and the future of good journalism, saying, “For us, what is important is a good story. Sometimes when we see a good piece from a youngster, we feel that we could not have written it that way.”
In the Politics category, R.K. Radhakrishnan of Frontline won the print award, and NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain won for television.
The Mumbai Press Club introduced a new award this year, Mumbai’s Star Reporter. Govind Tupe of Sakal won it for his dogged work helping empower civil society.
Apart from these, the awards included 10 other categories.
“This year. the RedInk team received more than 1,500 entries across categories. – a significant jump from the previous year that shows the popularity, reach and credibility of the awards among the fraternity,” a release by the Mumbai Press Club said.
Need for introspection
The subject of the media debate of the evening was ‘Turning the searchlight inwards: Why is the credibility of news media today at its nadir?’ Veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, senior journalists Bachi Karkaria, Srinivasan Jain, and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta talked about how the news media everywhere has been getting a lot of their predictions wrong, from Brexit to the U.S. elections to the U.P. State polls. The discussion also covered fake news and paid news, and recommended that journalists introspect about where they have gone wrong.
Star India was the Presenting Partner for the awards. The Aditya Birla Group, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment, Eros International, Indiabulls Housing, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, National Stock Exchange, Nanavati Hospital and JSW Steel were the Award Partners. The Hindu Group and Facebook were the media partners.
