Journalists will have to fight together against attacks on press freedom: Siddharth Varadarajan
Staff Reporter
Three senior journalists Vivek Shukla, Lalit Vats, Ira Jha and a photojournalist Kamaljeet Singh were honored with the Excellence Award for their outstanding contribution to journalism on the occasion of National Press Day (Nov 16) at Press Club of India.
Vivek Shukla, Lalit Vats, Ira Jha and photo journalist Kamaljeet have been doing pro-people journalism in the national capital for decades.
Vivek Shukla has been active in national media for more than three decades. Currently he is contributing to several Hindi and English newspapers as a freelance journalist. Earlier he worked with Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar and News 24. He has been writing weekly columns for Navbharat Times for the last eight years. He also wrote a unique book in English named as Gandhi’s Delhi in 2019 and this year another book named Delhi’s First Love Connaught Place. Both the books have earned tremendous accolades from its readers across spectrum.
Ira Jha is the first woman Hindi journalist in the country to command the main desks of two national newspapers. Her articles and reports were also published in Dainik Hindustan Daily. Apart from important issues like environment, legal issues Ira used to write on the anomalies of that region about which the world was unaware till then.His accurate prediction of the first assembly election result of Chhattisgarh in the year 2003 became very popular in Dainik Hindustan.
Ira Jha’s report from the Naxalite camp after walking miles in the dense forests of Bastar was also highly appreciated. She has a special hold on Naxalism, tribal and environment as well as legal issues.
Lalit Vats is a fearless crime reporter. He started journalism in 1982 by writing news and articles in some local newspapers of Delhi. He commenced regularly working as stringer for Navbharat Times in November, 1984. After his published several popular news, he got permanent appointment in Times Group. Dozens of news stories done as a crime reporter by him for Navbharat Times and Sandhya Times came into limelight. There were also news related to the families of some national leaders that created quite a furore in political circles.
Kamaljeet Singh, renowned photo journalist also worked as a laborer in Times Group. He later became a photojournalist in the same group after completing his graduation and thereafter learning photograhy.His contribution as photojournalist in Times of India group earned him accolades for his outstanding photojournalism.
A seminar on “Media Freedom in India” was also organized by then Accredited Journalists Association and the Press Club of India on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Siddharth Varadarajan, Founder Editor, “The Wire” said that during the current regime unfortunately senior editors, reporters, YouTubers and even sting people face extreme apprehension and fear in filing their news stories.
Expressing his deep displeasure, anger and disappointment over the imposition of sedition charges against senior journalists like Mrinal Pandey, Raj Deep Sardesai and Vinod Dua, who have transparently reported the problems of farmers during the long agitation and the Covid 19 pandemic founder editor, of “The Wire” said that now is the time to write about such harassment and victimisation related issues in detail and strangulation of media freedom.
He urged the people and the media fraternity to stand united to suppress and counter the evil intentions of those in power and successive state governments who are bent on crushing the rights of media, its freedom and journalism.
He said that journalists will have to fight together against the attacks on press freedom. Everyone was of one opinion on this.
Narrating the recent incidents of stifling of media freedom PCI president Gautam Lahiri said that they have protested strongly, sent memorandum to president Draupadi Murmu and a letter to chief justice of India seeking justice . He thanked the president for responding quickly and sending out letter/ memo to concerned authorities asking them to take urgent remedial measures and sent the action taken report to the PCI though they haven’t got anything till now. He also acquainted about the concrete legal cell being formed by PCI comprising of eminent lawyers, journalists etc to deal with such eventuality in future.
Ananth Nath, President of the Editors Guild of India and many other journalists attended the seminar