New Delhi: ThePrint was awarded with the prestigious International Press Institute’s (IPI) Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2022 on Friday for its field coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IPI award was shared with Saurabh Shukla of NDTV, who got the award for his expose on hate speech.
Former Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit, the chief guest at the event, gave away the excellence award to ThePrint’s Jyoti Yadav, Soniya Agrawal, Praveen Jain, Manisha Mondal, and Suraj Bisht Singh.
Fatima Khan and Aneesha Bedi — the two other recipients who have since left ThePrint — also attended the award ceremony.
In the backdrop of journalists being charged under the sedition law, the former CJI spoke at length about how freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak was wrongly convicted of sedition and remained in jail for six years.
“The award process goes through a very sophisticated process. The award goes to ThePrint for its ground reportage showing how hospitals, local governments managed or mismanaged the Covid-19 crisis,” veteran journalist and chairman of the India chapter of the IPI N. Ravi said at the event’s inaugural address at the Constitutional Club of India.
Justice (retired) Madan Lokur, a former judge of the Supreme Court, said the competition for the award had improved, but the issues faced by the media remained the same. “The quality of journalism has improved compared to the last award ceremony. We had a very tough time selecting the winner. This time, we had an even tougher time,” he said.
“The area where it hasn’t changed is the assault on freedom of the press. We had events when journalists were stopped from receiving international recognition, journalists detained under the UAPA.”
“Silence on Covid — though we had Shekhar Gupta and his team doing a fantastic job — has impacted employment and other issues and is not going to help India in its march towards progress,” the retired judge added.
Shekhar Gupta, ThePrint’s editor-in-chief, lauded the work done by his young colleagues in the face of the pandemic.
“There is much to learn from our younger colleagues. They’re the ones who stepped out and showed that our strength lies in ground journalism. The seniors stayed at home; the younger ones saw everything, they were also infected. It is through them that India became known for its ground reporting,” Gupta said in his acceptance speech.
“This award is a recognition of the untiring journalistic work done by the young, talented journalists at ThePrint. They bring fresh boundless energy and new eyes to look at the world. ThePrint is producing a new generation of India’s journalists who are changing the old ways of seeing and writing, and are bringing in new questions.”
He also emphasised the importance of mentoring young talent so that they can develop into well-rounded journalists.
“There’s much to learn from this new crop. It is also our job to be their mentors and help them realise their potential. And that is exactly what we did during the Covid waves. They grew into fearless journalists, and with them, ThePrint grew into a formidable powerhouse of ground-reporting that it is today.”
Comparing the newsroom to the air force, Gupta highlighted how there are “faceless” people working behind the scenes to carry out daily operations. “Behind every story, there are a number of copy editors who are doing thankless, generous jobs. Bylines are nothing without them,” he said.
“What you see in newsrooms are bylines. Behind each one, there are a lot of people. There is the news desk, one of the most faceless people, without whom the newsroom is nothing. Newsroom is a big organic being. Think of it like an air force. You see the pilots; they get gallantry awards. But think of how many people it takes to get the plane up? Look at a newsroom like an organic entity like that. This is an honour and award for all of them,” he said.
Gupta concluded his speech with poet Sahir Ludhianvi’s lines — “Tujhko Mujhko Jiiwan Amrit, Ab In Haathon Se Peena hai. Inki Dhadhkan Mein Basna Hai, Inke Saanso Mein Jeena Hai” (You and I have to drink the elixir of life with these hands. We have to live in their hearts, breathe through their lives), as a tribute to his colleagues.