The International Press Institute India Award for Excellence in Journalism has this year acknowledged reportage from strife-torn Ukraine and Manipur.
The jury was “unable to select any entry in the broadcast category deserving the award”, the IPI said in a statement, announcing its decision to award five entries for “covering different angles of the strife in Manipur”. These awards were given to Arunabh Saikia and Tora Agarwala from Scroll,Vijaita Singh from The Hindu, Greeshma Kuthar from The Caravan, Ashutosh Mishra from India Today, and The Print.
The press institute said that the decision was taken as a “mark of appreciation and acknowledgement of the media’s efforts to bring out the various facets of the human tragedy caused by the civil strife” in the northeastern state.
In the print category, the award went to Bhanu Prakash Chandra, a photojournalist at The Week, for his photo essay titled “Sunflower Fields and No Man’s Land”, which documented his experiences from the war in Ukraine. This was in stark contrast to how vast sections of the media, especially television, covered Ukraine.
Among the Manipur coverage that was awarded were reports on how the state bureaucracy was divided along ethnic lines, the Meitei militia’s unchecked power, and the role of disinformation in triggering violence.
The Manipur conflict became part of primetime news last year only after PM Narendra Modi's statement following a video of a sexual assault. The state had been gripped by violence since May 3, but few channels assigned ground reports from the state to senior journalists – in sharp contrast to the PM’s US and France visits, covered by prominent anchors and editors. Coverage on the issue has gradually fizzled out even as parts of the state continue to remain on the boil.
Instituted in 2003, the award has been given to 20 media organisations and journalists in print and electronic media so far. The International Press Institute, based in Vienna, is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices.
The selection was made by a jury headed by former Supreme Court justice Madan B Lokur, and including IPI-India chairman and Malayala Manorama chief associate editor and director Riyad Mathew, columnist Shobhaa De, and PTI chief editor Vijay Joshi.
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