NEW DELHI: The Citizen turned two with a celebratory event this weekend, with city's students, academics, journalists, bureaucrats, scholars and artists coming out in a huge show of support.
As part of the celebrations, The Citizen presented two awards: The Lifetime Achievement Award and The Young Talent award. The agenda also included a panel discussion on the topic, "Media: Manufacturing Consent?" as well as the screening of a short film on "Taking Our Politicians To The People" produced by The Citizen team.
The power packed event began with high tea, with New Delhi's journalism and media students having the opportunity to mingle with stalwarts in the industry. Veteran journalist Nihal Singh and senior journalists such as Satish Jacob, Shastri Ramachandran, Seema Guha amongst several others were amongst the guests. Politician Prakash Karat, leading historian Professor Romila Thapar, dancer Rekha Surya, and classical Indian dance scholar Kapila Vatsyayan, were amongst several others who attended the event.
(The Citizen’s editor-in-chief, Seema Mustafa, addressing the audience)
Dr. Syeda Hameed, a leading women's rights activist and former member of the Planning Commission, presented The Citizen's Lifetime Achievement Award to Kuldip Nayar. Dr. Hameed gave a moving tribute to the work of Mr. Nayar, reciting a couplet in his honour. Mr. Nayar has been one of India's leading journalists, having edited a number of leading newspapers, has written several books, has been a member of the Indian parliament, served as a High Commissioner to Great Britain and been part of India's delegation to the United Nations. Mr. Nayar currently writes op-eds for over 80 papers in 14 different languages. He has been a huge proponent of India-Pakistan peace, despite the challenges and hostility. Every year, Mr. Nayar would go to the Wagah Border and light a candle symbolic of peace and cooperation between the two neighbours, with the gesture soon snowballing into a movement involving thousands.
Kuldip Nayar received the award to a standing ovation, as the entire audience rose to celebrate and recognise the veteran journalist's contribution to the craft. Mr. Nayar spoke of his experiences as a journalist, linking the core ideals of the profession to The Citizen and its contribution. He commended The Citizen for the work it was doing, especially in terms of filling the gap that is prevalent in the media today, where sensationalisation and vested interests dictate news.
(Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar).
The next award, the Young Talent award, was presented by leading journalist and former director and editor-in-chief of the Women's Feature Service, Pamela Philipose. Ms. Philipose said that photography is an essential part of journalism and the media, and felt that it was fitting that the board chose to give the Young Talent award to a budding photographer, Cyril Lucido Kuhn. Cyril Lucido Kuhn is a freelance photographer based in Dehradun and New Delhi. He has a special interest in capturing places & people, interiors & architecture and more recently, the night sky. Cyril has travelled since a young age to innumerable places around the world and has now made it a point to capture/document the beautiful places, people and cultures he experiences on his travels. At present, with a focus on his home country, India. Some of his work can be seen here.
(Cyril with his framed works).
Cyril spoke about his fascination with the night sky, recalling the moment where he became obsessed with it. Out camping one day, Cyril looked up and was surprised to see the night sky dotted by stars and other celestial objects. In cities, with all the lights and pollution, the stars in the sky are barely visible -- perhaps symbolic of the fact that people in cities are becoming more and more preoccupied with things that do not matter, and forgetting the simple beauty of nature.
Cyril thanked The Citizen for recognising his work, which will be on display at the India International Centre (details to follow) in the near future, as part of a joint collaboration between The Citizen and the IIC.
The highlight of the event was a panel discussion, moderated by The Citizen's editor-in-chief, Seema Mustafa. The panelists were Professor Achin Vanaik, who started his career as a journalist and then moved into the world of academia, doing internationally recognised work in nuclear disarmament and terrorism; Dr. Waiel Awwad, a Syrian-born South Asia based journalists, who has covered wars in South Asia and was detained in Afghanistan before the fall of Taliban government and also was captured in an ambush during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 while he was embedded with American Troops; Hartosh Singh Bal, a journalist for long years who has written for several newspapers and magazines, including Open, and is currently the political editor of Caravan Magazine; and Sanjeev Srivastava, formerly India editor of BBC Hindi service, and former editor and CEO of the Sahara News Media group.
(The panelists)
The panelists are all strong voices on independent journalism, freedom from corporate control and vested interests, and the need for the media to operate as the fourth pillar of democracy. The discussion, which centred on all these issues, were thorough, informative and passionate, with each panelists bringing a level of expertise to the discussion. Hartosh Singh Bal spoke of the need for dissent, saying that liberals should disagree with everyone, even themselves. Bal was referring to a statement made by Srivastava, who recognised that the media constructs consensus, but questioned why consensus constructed by the right was problematic whereas left-liberal consensus was accepted? Bal responded saying that there is no such thing as liberal consensus, drawing attention to the fact that the same people have questioned both the UPA and NDA governments, with their questioning being supported by the right when it was in reference to the UPA, but rejected when it involved the NDA. Srivastava agreed but said it is important to remember that criticism of the UPA only gained momentum during UPA 2, when the public's perception of the government crashed following allegations of corruption. "It's a chicken and egg scenario," Srivastava said, "does the public dictate media consensus or does the media form public opinion?"
(The audience)
Achin Vanaik used personal examples and theoretical, academic principles to explain power structures that dictate consensus, and how these apply to the media in India. Vanaik spoke extensively on terror and the wars in West and South Asia, and how the media has projected a certain narrative, as dictated to it by those in positions of power. Dr. Awwad added to this with his own experience in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, giving personal anecdotes the illustrated how the media has compromised in these regions. He spoke of embedded journalists, and the role of democracy in ensuring a healthy and capable media.
The discussion ended with questions from the audience.
The Citizen also screened a short film at the event, shot by a young team of reporters and video-journalists. The film, titled, "Taking Our Politicians To The People" was shot on the streets of Delhi, and captured concerned, amused and otherwise hilarious responses to statements by by the country's political elite at different points in the recent past.
The film can be viewed here: