CHENNAI: The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) awards for journalism 2024 were announced by a three-member jury at a ceremony at the institute in Chennai on Saturday in the presence of veteran American journalist Norman Pearlstine.
While Hemant Gairola won the ACJ’s award for investigative journalism, the KP Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism was shared by Vandana Menon and Shamsheer Yousaf, Monica Jha and Sriram Vittalamurthy. The Ashish Yechury memorial award for photojournalism was handed over to M Palanikumar.
At the event, the institution also announced the website of its alumni association, which was launched by Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, chairman and managing director of The New Indian Express Group (Madurai).
Sashi Kumar, chairman of Media Development Foundation that runs ACJ and N Murali, another trustee of the foundation, were present at the event.
Pearlstine also delivered the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial lecture 2025 at the event which also hosted the convocation for the 2025 batch of students.
Titled ‘When Journalism is the Story’, Pearlstine spoke in detail about his journalism career, touching upon his interactions with current President of The United States, Donald Trump.
He pointed out how the seeds of Trump’s success could be traced to 1994 when Newt Gingrich secured Republican support for his Contract With America, a document signed by members of the Republican minority before the Republican Party gained control of Congress, and the rise of polarising politics.
Pearlstine said this also coincided with the onset of “irreversible decline in the business model of traditional journalism, triggered by the internet and later social media.”
Pointing out that American owners of proud news organisations were alarmed by the prospect of Trump controlling institutions like the White House, Congress and Supreme Court, he said they appeared willing to compromise editorial independence to gain favour with him.
Drawing parallels, he later wondered how India, the world’s largest democracy, would manage the current Union government’s push for greater authoritarian control.
He touched upon how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could assist news publishers in saving money by streamlining copy desks and quicker and efficient fact-checking. Debunking theories that AI could replace journalists, he narrated how his ChatGPT-generated obituary mentioned his grieving kids, when he did not have any.
Predicting India’s vital role in the Pacific Century, he urged the graduating journalists to help shape India’s potential with objective and truthful journalism.