Social media has made it extremely difficult for institutional and individual identities to remain credible now as statements can be rapidly decontextualised. It is important for journalists to exercise caution at every instance to maintain credibility, political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta said at the virtual convocation of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ)’s class of 2020-21 here on Thursday.
Delivering the Lawrence Dana Pinkham lecture on ‘Who is interested in truth — Reflections on our times’, Mr. Mehta said social media had blurred professional and personal boundaries and it is harder to establish credibility now. Aspiring journalists must also examine ownerships and structures that distort production of truth.
Noting that India was passing through an unprecedented phase, he said resistance to truth not only comes from authoritarian regimes but sometimes from democratic times also. The idea that private media would produce free media in pursuit of truth has turned out to be an illusion now and journalists’ lives are at stake. Social media also posed a challenge to produce a population that is receptive to truth.
Felicitating the students, N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group and Trustee, Media Development Foundation (MDF), said they would be entering journalism fields with opportunities and challenges. Economics, ecosystem and ways of media have been disrupted in the digital age. Technology and journalism have evolved rapidly in recent years.
However, the intrinsic values and relevance of journalism as a democratic craft remains despite the technology-led transformations.
The core tasks of journalism — verification, sense making, baring witness and investigation — as a professional pursuit continue to be relevant, Mr. Ram said.
Pointing out that the values of journalism had come under pressure now, he said students must stand up for their profession and protect its independence as a democratic craft.
Remembering the three alumni of ACJ who were COVID-19 victims, Sashi Kumar, Chairman, MDF and ACJ, said it was a challenging year owing to the pandemic. But it was a trendsetter as classes were delivered online during the adverse situation.
While Prabhjit Singh and Arshu John were declared winners of the Asian College of Journalism’s Award for Investigative Journalism for their article in The Caravan on the Delhi riots, Sukanya Shantha won the K.P. Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism for her article on caste discrimination in Indian prisons published in The Wire. The awards comprise cash prizes of ₹2 lakh and ₹1 lakh respectively.
In the Investigative Journalism award category, there were three special mentions — Disha Shetty, Tish Sanghera and Pankhuri Kumar for Environment Undone series in India Spent; Lakshmi Subramanian for Inside Syria - The Naked and the Dead published in The Week, and Shalini Singh for her series on women’s health submitted to the People’s archive for Rural India.
There were four special mentions in the social impact journalism category. They were Divya Gupta for Shooting up: Himachal Pradesh’s spiralling heroin problem published in The Caravan; Aparna Ganesan, Vigneshwar K., Vivek Manahoran and Prajeesh K. for Ennore: Living in Ashes in Asiaville; Tanmoy Bhaduri for Buzz of hope: traditional honey gatherers of the Sunderbans get a new lease of life in Gaon Connection and Sruthin Lal and Dibyaudh Das for Corona Cyclips in Asiaville.
A total of 115 students received their post-graduate diplomas in journalism and another 12 students received their post-graduate diplomas in business and financial journalism.
