Media Stars Shine At ‘40 Under 40’ Exchange4Media Event

Dignitaries during a panel discussion

Exchange4media on 30th September organized the second edition of English Journalism '40 Under 40' awards and event at The Park Hotel, New Delhi. The governor of Kerala Shri Arif Mohammad Khan became the chief guest for the day.

Dignitaries from popular media institutions such as Sukumar Ranganathan and Sonia Singh also joined the event. The audience list included English Journalism students from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and hotel management students.

Sukumar Ranganathan And Sonia Singh Inlighted The Event

The event started with a welcome speech by Ruhail Amin, Senior Editor, Business World, and Exchange4Media at 11:05 AM. He was later followed by Hindustan Times chief-in-editor Sukumar Ranganathan who discussed the basic criteria and procedure for giving awards to candidates under the '40 under 40' programme. Mr. Ranganathan also drew a comparison between print media and TV journalism.

He said, "There is no substantial stuff shown on TV, the main focus is on crime. TV believes in investing in anchors and not reporters."  

Later, Sonia Singh, Editorial Director, NDTV in a chat with Ruhail Amin shared her vision about the changes that have come in the newsroom over decades. Singh called the TRP system the worst and stated it as the reason for the toxic news run. 

Genuine Journalism Is Rarely Expensive- Arif Mohammad Khan 

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan reached the venue at 12:27 p.m. After the national anthem, he delivered a speech in which he talked about the ideal objectives of journalism and its present context.  

"I do not ask for unbiased journalism because the majority of the journalists now do not really have a role in deciding what is to be printed and what is to be left out", said Arif Mohammad Khan.  

The Governor of Kerala discussed how fake news is cheap to produce and genuine journalism is rarely expensive. "A solution to this needs to come from the media themselves because it is the media's self-respect and dignity that is now at stake and it is now high time that you restore", said Arif Mohammad Khan.

The 19 Award Winners

The 19 winners selected under the ‘40 under 40’ program are recognized professionals all over India in print, electronic, and digital media. The winners' names include Aishwarya Paliwal, Akshita Nandagopal, Aneesha Mathur,  Deepak Bopanna, Dhrubo Jyoti, Sneha Mary Koshy, etc.  

Social Media Journalists Are Equal To WhatsApp University- Joyeeta Basu

In the first panel discussion based on 'Rebuilding Trust: Restoring Confidence In Journalism', Atir Khan, Editor-in-Chief, Awaz The Voice said "It is the entire system that is responsible for losing confidence in journalism and not individual Journalists." Joyeeta Basu, Editor, The Sunday Guardian discussed how the lack of trust in media is responsible for the rise of social media Journalists. "Social Media Journalists are equal to WhatsApp university", said Basu.

'Teach Students To Have Objectivity" Dr. Surbhi Dahiya 

The second-panel discussion was based on 'Navigating Unbiased Reporting In A Polarised News Culture'. Dr. Surbhi Dahiya, Professor, IIMC said, "I also show the true face of media to students, if brand capital is there, it is there. We don't teach our students only goody-goody things. We teach how to be objective."

"Go Out, Live The Story"- Nitin Srivastava

The last panel discussion was based on 'Innovative Storytelling: Modernizing Traditional News Formats'. According to Nitin Srivastava, Correspondent, BBC the covering of story and keeping all the facts is more important than innovation. 'Go out, live the story', we say on BBC", said Srivastava.