NEW DELHI: Journalist Ravish Kumar has been named for the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award for “harnessing journalism to give voice to the voiceless”. He is among five recipients of the 2019 Magsaysay award. Kumar is a senior executive editor with NDTV.
The citation said, “In electing Ravish Kumar to receive the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his unfaltering commitment to a professional, ethical journalism of the highest standards; his moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence; and his principled belief that it is in giving full and respectful voice to the voiceless, in speaking truth bravely yet soberly to power, that journalism fulfills its noblest aims to advance democracy.”
It described Kumar as “sober, incisive, and well-informed”. “He does not dominate his guests but affords them the chance to express themselves,” it said.
Despite receiving threats and harassments, Kumar has been consistent in preserving and widening “the space for a critical, socially responsible media” and puts people at the centre of his journalism, the award citation said.
“In a media environment threatened by an interventionist state, toxic with jingoist partisans, trolls and purveyors of “fake news,” and where the competition for market ratings has put the premium on “media personalities”, “tabloidisation”... Ravish has been most vocal on insisting that the professional values of sober, balanced, fact-based reporting be upheld in practice,” it said.
The other winners include Ko Swe Win from Myanmar, Angkhana Neelapaijit from Thailand, Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab from Philippines and Kim Jong-Ki from South Korea.