New Delhi: ThePrint founder and Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta was presented with the ‘afaqs! Business Leader of the Year’ award Thursday, with the news site being termed “one of the most powerful and objective voices in Indian news journalism”. The ‘Business Leader of the Year’ category was introduced to the awards — which are a part of the Digipub World, the “only business event focused exclusively on web publishing” — this year.
The title was “introduced to honour executives who have brought the news revolution online to this juncture”, according to afaqs. Gupta was selected by a special jury comprising marketers and agency heads “from a list of eight super achievers nominated by afaqs! readers”.
In his acceptance speech, Gupta highlighted the importance of “never doing the wrong things for the right reasons” and the importance of ethical journalism. He also mentioned the importance of desk editors in journalism.
Gupta concluded his speech with the Hindi idioms, “Padhe Farsi, beche tel (you wanted to become a scholar, now you’re a businessman)” and “Aaye the hari bhajan karne, kotne lage kapas (you had come to do pious things, you’re trading in cotton)”, while highlighting the distinction between journalism and marketing.
Talking about the concept of the ‘separation of the State and the Church’, he equated journalism to the Church, highlighting how, over the years, keeping the wall between the Church and the State had “become tough”.
With India’s leading news organisations “deliberately and consciously” deciding to demolish the wall, it has become tougher for other organisations to maintain the separation, said Gupta. ThePrint editor-in-chief also highlighted how both the market and the editorial are two aspects of journalism that work simultaneously, without competition or contradiction.
The DigiPub Awards, which recognise excellence in digital journalism, are restricted to traditional websites — those that depend on content, advertising, sponsorship, subscription and public contribution for their continued existence. The 2023 edition was the fourth of the afaqs! Digipub Awards.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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