The suspense will finally be over on Monday with President APJ Abdul Kalam set to announce the country?s biggest media awards at a function in New Delhi. Instituted last year, the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards set in motion a rigorous process to recognise and reward the best in journalism in India.
A year later, the Indian media has grown phenomenally but the challenge remains to choose quality amid quantity. On Monday, the second RNG awards for works done in 2005-06 will just do that. It would salute stories that made a difference and bold journalism that did not forsake ethical practices.
With new categories this year, the reach of this exercise is formidable. Recognising the importance of reporting on HIV/AIDS, the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation in association with the USAID, Avert Society and Health Communication Partnership/Johns Hopkins University, will present two awards for excellence in HIV/AIDS reporting?in English and Marathi. This year, awards have also been introduced for books (non-fiction) and sports journalism.
Two books in The Indian Express Group Book Series will be launched at the function: India Empowered, a collection of articles by leaders from various fields written for a special series published by the newspaper and The Prize Stories, a book on the reports that won the awards last year.
The inaugural Ramnath Goenka Memorial Debate will follow the awards. A panel including Shobhana Bhartia of the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Guha of Zee Telefilms, Rajat Sharma of India TV, Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, Barkha Dutt of NDTV and Shekhar Gupta of The Indian Express will discuss a question that has haunted newsrooms for long, particularly now??Is Excellent Journalism Bad Business??
