The eighth edition of Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards brought together the finest minds from the fields of journalism, politics, sports and the creative arts. On a Monday evening, Kamal Mahal, the hall in ITC Maurya in the Capital, was brimming with invitees who put their hands together to applaud 57 winners who received their awards from chief guest Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting.
The event had political leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, P Chidambaram, Venkaiah Naidu, Najma Heptullah, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goyal, Rajeev Shukla, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Asaduddin Owaisi in attendance, besides legal luminaries such as Soli Sorabjee, Justice AK Sikri, Justice (retired) Rajinder Sachar and Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal. Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, industrialist VN Dalmia, Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni, GoC-in-Chief, South Western Command, and dancer Shovana Narayan were also present at the function.
The evening kicked off with an insightful keynote address by Arun Jaitley, who emphasised on the “big challenge” facing the media today. “People involved in other businesses also tend to control media organisations. Then editorial columns start to reflect their other interests,” he said.
The speech was followed by an “In Conversation” session with actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan.