A.S. Panneerselvan is Executive Director, Panos South Asia which has a presence in five countries and works in three more with the help of local consultants. He is a steering committee member of the Global Forum for Media Development, and an advisory panel member of the Knight International Journalism Fellowship programme administered by ICFJ. Mr. Panneerselvan, apart from being a regular columnist, is also a journalism teacher and is an adjunct faculty member of the prestigious Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.
Mr. Panneerselvan joined Panos South Asia in 2004 after having been the Managing Editor for the Sun Network, an Indian Television Network operating in five languages across 10 channels. As Managing Editor he was in charge of evolving and implementing editorial policy across the network, apart from managing a large team of writers, producers and reporters and coordinating between various departments, bureaus and languages — Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English. Besides, he has hosted several incisive analytical programmes on South Asian affairs.
Before joining Sun Network, Mr. Panneerselvan was the Chief of Bureau for Outlook magazine, the English language weekly. His areas included economy, politics and neighbourhood relations. He has published more than 200 articles in various national and international publications. He has also directed a video film Making Trouble Where There Is None . This documentary, produced by Frontline magazine of The Hindu group, is about communal mobilisation under the cover of the Lord Ganesh festival in Chennai.
Mr. Panneerselvan has been covering Sri Lanka since 1984. Travelling extensively all over the island, his reports from Colombo, Jaffna, upcountry and Ampara were widely reproduced in the Indian and international media. He has presented more than 20 major papers on the question of devolution in various national and international seminars. As an advocate of global nuclear disarmament, he has written extensively on nuclear issues.
Mr. Panneerselvan holds a Masters degree in Psychology. He was a Reuters Fellow at the University of Oxford in 1998. About his role as executive director, Mr. Panneerselvan says: “After the May 1998 nuclear tests at Pokhran in India and Chagai in Pakistan, most observers said South Asia has become one of the most dangerous places to live. Panos South Asia will strive to make the region a peaceful and equitable one.”
Mr. Panneerselvan is an Indian national. He has lectured widely in the U.K. and the United States of America.
