Between the lines

Mid-2008,when the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal was mired in political controversy,Siddharth Varadarajans articles in The Hindu became standard reference material for those who wanted an assessment of the claims and counter-claims being made by the government and its critics. After receiving his award,he chose,unusually,to thank his sources. That was testimony to how much reporters who chased the unheard story of the nuclear deal were dependent on government officials. Varadarajan acknowledges this was,and remains,a problem for those reporting on foreign policy and national security.

Government officials often like to plant information. At the heart of good reporting,therefore,is multiple sourcing, says Varadarajan,Delhi Bureau Chief of The Hindu.

Hes now at work on a book on the nuclear deal and Indo-US relations. A six-month sabbatical as a visiting professor at the University of Berkeley,to do the research,passed all too soon. The book is my priority now, he says.

Journalist of the Year Broadcast

Arnab Goswami,Times Now

As Editor-in-Chief of Times Now,Goswami has won fans and detractors in equal measure. To some,his aggressive line of questioning and nationalist slant borders on jingoism. I dont really want to comment on why people call me jingoistic,but if you are asking a direct question to Pakistan,how does it make you jingoistic? If you,however,nuance your question in such a way that the question itself is lost,does that make your question better? I dont think so. So,I believe in being very direct,and thats the only kind of journalism which I believe in, says Goswami.

Under Goswami,the channels coverage of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks stood out. He says his team was widely praised for the restraint that we showed,what we divulged and did not divulge. The importance of the stage was not lost on most channels but Goswami stayed put in his studio,anchoring his team. I have always believed that the focus should not be on the face; it should be on the story, he says.

Reporting from Jamp;K and the Northeast Broadcast

Arijit Sen,CNN-IBN

Arijit Sen travelled through the turbulent areas of Udalgiri and Dariang in Assam in 2008 when violence erupted between two tribal groups. Peoples homes were burnt,they were dislocated. It was important for my crew and me to handle this story carefully,especially when nobody knew the reason for the conflict, he says.

His team travelled deep in the area,speaking to both victims of the violence and to the CRPF men. It was a difficult situation,people were angry and not willing to come on camera. They needed time, says Sen,who reports on the Northeast,a region,he says,thats ignored by the mainstream media.

Journalism Awards for Hindi Print

Geetashree,Outlook

It was a story in a local paper that set Geetashree on the trail of girls trafficked from the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh to Delhi to work as domestic workers. Her story exposed the harassment they were subjected to in Delhi and chronicled their disillusioned return home.

Reporting on the story was not easy. These were Naxal-affected areas. There were security concerns, she says. But she stayed with the story and her expose led to the rescue of some girls. A few of the rescued girls were taken to an NGO in Ranchi. When I visited them,they welcomed me with a beautiful song,Didi re,shiksha bina sab soona re, she says.

Regional Languages Print

Abhijit Vasant Ghorpade,Loksatta

AN ASSISTANT Editor with Loksatta,Ghorpade started out as a crime reporter but started covering environment out of interest. A lot has been written on environmental concerns like pollution around the river basins. I wanted to portray the human angle of the issue. So I did a story on how people living in the encroachments and the fishermen are affected, says Ghorpade. There was no reference or research material. I had to start on my own. I travelled on various river banks of Maharashtra for three months, he says. Ghorpade says seeing the impact his story made gave him much satisfaction. The affected people have become more aware and vocal now. Also the government has made this topic part of their agenda.

Sports Journalism Broadcast

Debayan Sen amp; Dhruv Varshney,ZEE Sports

Debayan Sen and Dhruv Varshneys one-hour documentary,History of Indian Football,has won them a lot of acclaim. We made it on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first international football match played by India, says Sen,now a football commentator. Sen told me about the story idea. We chose Kolkata,Mumbai and Goa as our shooting destinations, says Varshney,who started his career with Zee as a trainee reporter five years ago. For Varshney,who is now freelancing as a director-producer,it was a learning experience. I did not know that Indias football team in the pre-70s was very strong and that we had defeated many strong teams like Australia, he says.

Business and Economic Journalism Print

Puja Mehra,Business Today

When the world media was speculating the consequences of the liquidity crunch after the collapse of Lehman Brothers,Puja Mehra predicted the future Indian economic scenario in her cover story titled,So,Where Is The Money?

When I was writing the story,there were rumours that ICICI was going to collapse as well. People were queuing outside ATMs to get money. It was a very difficult situation as nobody was willing to talk, says Mehra. Everything that Mehra had predicted in her story has come true. Its a surprise,but it feels good, she says.

Political reporting Broadcast

Ajit Anjum,News 24

During the Kosi floods in Bihar in 2008,Anjum,now managing editor at BAG,had a tough time handling three jobs at oncethat of a reporter,activist and a social worker. As part of the one-month campaign that the channel ran,Anjum exposed a defunct government which failed to reach out to the victims and who merely did an aerial survey of the affected areas.

We had to travel four feet deep in water to get to the victims for which we used navy motor boats, he says. Along with his team,Anjum also ran a Rahat Lekar Chalo Bihar campaign,appealing to viewers to donate clothes,food and medicines for the victims.

Uncovering India Invisible Print

Jiji Paul,Malayala Manorama

In Idukki district of Kerala,where the state borders Tamil Nadu,a farmer was lying in a shack weeping. He had fever and hadnt eaten in days. Having taken a loan from the government,he was unable to pay it back as his crops lay destroyed in the heavy rains.

That image still haunts Paul. It led him to explore and expose the despair of paddy farmers in Kerala. The farmers sold paddy at Rs 12.50 a kg to the traders who would sell it at Rs 27 a kg. The government was doing nothing about it,says Paul,who is currently Chief Reporter,Malayala Manorama. But Pauls story told the outside world the plight of the small farmer.

Environmental Reporting Broadcast

Amey Vitthaldas Tirodkar,IBN Lokmat

When Amey Vitthaldas Tirodkar travelled to Goa,it was to learn about how mining in the state was impacting the lives of local residents. He wanted to study the mining sites in Goa for a story he had planned then on the illegal mining sites of Sawantwadi district of Maharashtra. In Sawantwadi,locals are troubled due to the mining activities. Some of them had to give away their fields as the mining sites are located there, says Tirodkar,who made a half-hour special called Khol Khol Khani on the issue. Shooting in Sawantwadi and Goa was difficult. There were days when I had to walk for hours to get to the sites, he says.

Film and Television Journalism Broadcast

Suresh Mathew amp; Rohit Khanna CNN-IBN

In an age where reality shows have taken over TV channels,Suresh Mathew,features editor,and Rohit Khanna,executive producer for special projects at CNN-IBN,decided to explore what goes into the making of these shows. Their programme,30 Minutes on Reality TV,showed,how channels were pushing the bar in terms of morality and how the line between real and manufactured was getting blurred.

Mathew says,We showed how children were being pushed into reality shows by their parents and how the fights between the judges on the shows are all stage managed.

On-the-spot-Reporting Broadcast

Shamsher Singh,Headlines Today

Armed with a handycam and an indomitable spirit,Singh and his team shot a Shiromani ceremony in Kandhamal,where Christian tribals were being forcibly reconverted to Hinduism. His team spent a night at a CRPF camp and trekked for over two kilometres through the jungles,looking for someone who would speak up. We were outsiders and it was difficult to move around the place. It was a big risk because if they knew we were shooting them,they would have killed us, says Singh,Senior Special Correspondent with Headlines Today. After 6-7 days of recce,he was able to trace a few tribals and shoot the reconversion ceremony.

Award for Books Non- Fiction

Harish Damodaran,Indias New Capitalists: Caste,Business and Industry in a Modern Nation

What was initially meant to be an edit page article,eventually turned into a book titled Indias New Capitalists,which broadly explores the ethnic composition of Indias businessmen and how India has transformed post-independence. While in North India,industrialists tend to be from only a few castes,like Marwaris and Banias,in the South,industrialists belong to many castes. The disparity in the two regions was shocking, says Harish Damodaran. That discovery made him dig further.

He researched all industries,including agriculture and the media. I read up on over 15 caste communities What was intriguing was that the composition of industrialists in the North has remained the same since 1947, says Damodaran,a Senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu Business Line,who reports on agriculture.

Uncovering India Invisible Broadcast

Kamal Khan,NDTV India

Cases of farmer suicides in Bundelkhand brought Khan to its drought-affected regions. Khand Khand Bundelkhand,the campaign,revealed how farmers were being beaten up because they were unable to repay their hefty loan amounts to the government. Their land was mortgaged and tractors taken away, says Khan,Resident Editor,NDTV India.

Khan remembers the case of a Thakur family whose 24-year-old son committed suicide because their crops failed. Being a member of an upper-caste family,he was not ready to take up small jobs elsewhere which led him to take this extreme step, says Khan.

In Lalitpur district,we came across a family where we saw a mother feeding her children cooked snakes and rotis made of grass. We captured these images to highlight the pitiable living conditions, recounts Khan.

Reporting on Jamp;K and the Northeast Print

Teresa Rehman,Tehelka

Covering the conflict-torn areas in Manipur,Meghalaya,Assam,Tripura,Nagaland,Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram,Teresa Rehman has tried to look beyond the obvious. The Northeast is a remote region not only geographically but also emotionally. It has often been in the news for the wrong reasons, she says.

From issues of health and rural employment to how militants were recruiting children to fill up their ranks in Manipur,Rehmans stories cover a wide range. Such issues require a lot of sensitivity and understanding. A mother is wailingher child has been taken away from her. It is a very traumatic experience for the family and you need to handle it carefully. But at the same time,it is inspiring to see illiterate women stand up for their rights, says Rehman,who worked with Tehelka for four years and is now a freelancer.

Commentary and Interpretative writing Print

Saubhik Chakrabarti,The Indian Express

From opinions on the political economy to television to book reviews,Saubhik Chakrabarti,Group Editor,The Indian Express,writes on a wide range of subjects. But versatility has its challenges. All three are very different types of writings. Television columns are the toughest as one has to be interesting and funny at the same time. Writing to make a reader laugh and agree with you is most difficult. One thing I have learnt by writing book reviews is that never pre-judge a book by the authors name, says Chakrabarti. Writing opinion pieces on subjects such as the political economy comes with a sense of responsibility.The biggest challenge is to get the reader to reach the opinion page as it is not really the news of the day. The goal is to not write something that is not clear to the reader after reading. But an opinion piece is also the most satisfying, says Chakrabarti.

Political Reporting Print

Pranab Dhal Samanta,The Indian Express

Pranab Dhal Samanta ,Deputy Editor,The Indian Express,started his career as a crime reporter 10 years ago. Samanta won the award for reporting on politics and government,which included his stories on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Given that the Indo-US nuclear deal became such an important political issue domestically,a lot of the reports in that period had significant political ramifications, says Samanta. He believes that its important to stay ahead as a news-gatherer. Those whom we refer to as sources all the time are at the heart of such reports,giving you the initial tip-off. But the tough bit in such reports is that there is almost no margin of error. Getting it wrong on serious issues like these would definitely invite a strong backlash,besides damaging the credibility of all involved. So,cross-checking with multiple sources quickly to ensure accuracy is the key, he says.

Sports Journalism Print

Mini Kapoor,The Indian Express

She was never a sports reporter but the opportunity to cover the Beijing Olympics was both a challenge and a dream that Mini Kapoor took up. But Kapoor,Associate Editor with The Indian Express,is glad she was part of the moment. It wasnt just for the game. Watching people perform and do their best was inspirational and educative, she says. Chancing upon the boxers,a charismatic bunch was all part of the experience.

Fencing,synchronised diving were all new to me and these were sports which even the best of sportspersons would not be aware of, she says. For Kapoor,the entire experience was three weeks of my life in a bubble of excellence. Kapoor had in 2004 attended Indias cricket series in Pakistan,the Friendship Series,and found it overwhelming. The cricket was phenomenal. Thousands attended the match which created a context for people-to-people contact, she says.

Environmental Reporting Print

Varghese C. Thomas,Malayala Manorama

Weather was never really a beat for any newspaper. That is when Thomas,now Chief Sub-Editor,Malayala Manorama,realised he could develop one. He researched on climate change and brought it to the notice of farmers,industrialists and rubber-cultivating workers. In 2004,Malayala Manorama launched a water-harvesting project called Palathulli,meaning many a drop. It was important to raise awareness on water conservation in Kerala,a state which has the largest number of household wells, says Thomas.

Business and Economic Journalism Broadcast

Shweta Rajpal Kohli,NDTV

In June 2008,oil prices around the world shot up to 100 a barrel. An emergency meeting in Jeddah was held,which Kohli attended. It was to highlight the impact of oil politics on Indian consumers, she says.

As Economic Affairs Editor,NDTV,she had a tough time doing interviews in Saudi Arabia as everywhere I went,I had to be escorted by someone and had to be burqa-clad. Her biggest challenge was interviewing the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram who also attended the meeting.

The most exciting bit was when she visited the stunning oil-fields in the middle of 100-ft-high sand dunes.

Journalism Awards for Hindi Broadcast

Abhisar Sharma,Aaj Tak

It was after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto that Sharma travelled to Pakistan in 2007. Looking for answers for Bhuttos assassination,he visited Lal Masjid,from where he did a special storyLal Masjid ka Safed Sach. This was the mosque which had been laid siege earlier in the year.

The siege of Lal Masjid was an important benchmark in the history of Pakistan that turned the Taliban against Pakistan and climaxed with the death of Benazir Bhutto. As a journalist,I wanted to discover the place from where it all started, says Sharma,who is now writing his first book,Eye of the Predator,on the killing of Baitullah Mehsood.

Political Reporting Print

Aditi Phadnis,Business Standard

In her 27 years as a journalist,Aditi Phadnis,Political Editor of Business Standard,has tried to abide by one principle: truth.I try to inject in all stories something that will convey to the reader that I am really telling the truth. Sometimes,it is mood,sometimes it is a conversation. But most of all,it is facts and figures,something that isnt easy in the smoke and mirror world of politics.

Phadnis ,48,started as a political reporter in 1983 when she was just 20. Since then,she has been reporting on various political issues,the most recent being on the politics of cricket,even though she is not in the least bit interested in the game and doesnt understand it.

On-the-spot- Reporting Print

Hindustan Times Mumbai team

The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was the biggest news story of the decade. But,says Resident Editor of Hindustan Times,Mumbai,Soumya Bhattacharya,We were only about three years old in Mumbai and we had a relatively small team of reporters. But,he says,the team did them proud.

The confirmation of it being a terror attack came in very late on the night of November 26. We had to release the paper at 2.30 a.m. where usually we do it at 11.30 p.m. We worked round the clock, he recounts. We also came out with an afternoon special edition on the 27th. It was not just on-the-spot reporting,but on-the-spot headlining,on-the-spot editing and on-the-spot designing, he says.

Civic Journalism Print

Mahesh Gupthan,Malayala Manorama

When efforts to provide palliative care to terminally-ill patients gathered momentum in Kerala in 2008,Mahesh Gupthan,with just seven years of working experience,realised this was an initiative that needed to be highlighted nationally.

Eventually,what began as small articles in local Malayalam newspapers in Wayanad,Malappuram and Kozhikode,soon turned into a series where Gupthan,who now works as a Senior Reporter with Malayala Manorama,interviewed patients and doctors. The series,he says,benefited many,prompting over 10,000 volunteers to sign up for the programmes on palliative care that social organisations organised.

Film and Television Journalism Print

Harneet Singh,The Indian Express

Her irreverent interviews of Bollywood celebrities brought a fresh perspective to film journalism. The biggest challenge is not to be star struck. It is very important to bring out the persona behind the star image. There is a lot of temptation to affiliate yourself with the camps in Bollywood but you have to remember that you are representing an organisation and writing for the readers, says Singh. She has managed to strike a balance between asking personal and professional questions. For instance,in an interview with Salman Khan,she quizzed him on a range of issues: from his equation with Shah Rukh Khan to his friendship with Aamir Khan.

Singh has also been consistent in spotting trends in Bollywood.

Investigative Reporting Print

Shyamlal Yadav,India Today

Recognising the power of the RTI Act,Yadav realised he could use this tool to unearth stuff that ministers would love to keep secret. For an article titled,Frequent Fliers,Yadav filed 60 RTIs to show that the foreign trips Union Ministers made were equivalent to 256 rounds of the globe. Later,he published The Open Secret,pointing out the reluctance of Union Ministers to declare their assets. Eventually,all ministers gave in, says Yadav. The ease with which RTIs can be mishandled has become a challenge, says Yadav,who has filed 1,800 RTIs.

By ,Shalini Narayan,Shreya Sareen

and Deepu Sebastian Edmond