CHENNAI: Dressed in their fineries, a new batch of aspiring journalists prepared to enter the media industry following their graduation from the Asian College of Journalism held on May 3 at the MS Subbulakshmi Auditorium in Taramani. But before that, the J-school turned the spotlight on some of the change makers of the industry. The evening began with an award ceremony and then moved on to the conferring of degrees.
The ACJ Journalism Awards, started around eight years ago, has three categories — Investigative Journalism, Social Impact Journalism, and Photojournalism. Eminent figures like Rahul Jacob, Gautam Bhatia, and Ammu Joseph were on the panel to decide the final runners-up and winners.
The ACJ Investigative Journalism Award was given to Tapasya and Nitin Sethi of the Reporter’s Collective for their story on “Forests for Profits”; the K.P Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism was given to Akhilesh Pandey for his story “Dangerous Waters” published in The Caravan magazine; and the Ashish Yechury Memorial Award for Photojournalism was bestowed up on Sudip Maiti for his photostory “The hungry river in West Bengal eats up homes overnight” published in the Frontline Magazine.
Several journalists from organisations like Reuters, The Print, and Scroll, as well as freelancing journalists, were also chosen as runners-up for the various awards. Close to 275 entries were recorded, and 37 were shortlisted before the final winners of the awards were selected. “Most often, it is for just the love of it. There is something about loving life in a way that you want others to live that life. Journalism is a good tool to perhaps deliver it to others,” said Nitin Sethi as he talked about the quality journalism coming up in the country.
N Murali, the trustee of the Media Development Foundation, spoke about how press freedom in India has been declining over the years, making the career difficult and challenging. “Media is also seeing the decline of many regional newspapers, and those who have survived have adapted digital and smart strategies. The scene is fast changing, and digital is growing,” he added.
The event, co-organised by the Media Development Foundation and the Asian College of Journalism, had cultural activist and literary scholar GN Devy as the chief guest. He delivered the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture on ‘Media in Zero-Gravity: The Word without the World.’ “There is reality, which is the world out there, and then there are the readers. Media is in the middle; Reality is brought to the Readers by Media,” said Devy while emphasising how media needs to keep the role of the conscience keeper in today’s world.
The convocation of the Batch of 2024 of ACJ took place right after the award ceremony, amongst the hearty congratulations and wise words of several veteran figures of the industry and the college.