On 7 June, Mumbai’s entire journalistic fraternity met at the seaside National Centre for Performing Arts for the prestigious RedInk Awards, hosted annually by the Mumbai Press Club.
Given the recent raids by the CBI at NDTV’s owner Prannoy Roy’s apartments, and the declining freedom of speech and safety of journalists, the question most avidly debated by prominent journalists and politicians present was whether the government is trying to suppress media houses that don’t toe the party line or is it that the media has lost all credibility?
The Quint, also present at the awards, brings you answers from some of the prominent names from among the attendees.
While receiving the RedInk Lifetime Achievement Award, veteran journalist Vinod Dua spoke about the tense conditions under which the media is currently operating. Dua started his journalistic career as a psephologist on Doordarshan with Prannoy Roy in the 70s.
The seasoned Dua was careful to specify that the media fraternity mustn’t only point fingers outside, it must introspect on the blurring line between the media and politicians.
NDTV’s Srinivasan Jain stressed on the channel’s official stance that the raid was “very clearly an assault on perhaps the only TV network which has tried to maintain a neutral position.” However, it was the extraordinary pushback which the government received from across the board which Jain said gave him hope.
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