New Delhi: Caravan magazine has won the 2023 Shorenstein Journalism Award, sponsored by Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, for its “steadfast coverage that champions accountability and media independence in the face of India’s democratic backsliding”.
The award, which carries a cash prize of $10,000, recognises outstanding journalists and news organisations for excellence in coverage of the Asia-Pacific region. Previous winners of the award include The Wire‘s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan, Rappler founding editor Maria Ressa, investigative journalist Tom Wright, The Washington Post‘s Anna Fifield and independent journalist Ian Johnson.
In its announcement of the award, the Shorenstein Center said:
“The decline in press freedom and growing threats to democratic institutions in India under the Modi government have been well-documented. “The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media, and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in ‘the world’s largest democracy,’” according to Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, which ranks India as “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media.” In this environment, where media organizations are under constant pressure to toe the government line and critical reporting is often suppressed, The Caravan has kept its commitment to editorial independence. Facing violence, sedition charges, and imprisonment, the magazine has continued to produce investigations exposing Hindu extremist terrorism, political assassinations, gender and caste inequality, and ethnic violence against the Muslim minority in the country.”
Caravan editor Hartosh Singh Bal delivered a keynote address at the Stanford Alumni Centre in California on October 10. The award committee had also specifically spoken of Bal’s achievements, saying, “The award also recognizes the contributions of The Caravan’s executive editor, Hartosh Singh Bal, who formerly worked as the magazine’s political editor for ten years. An incisive commentator on Indian politics and society, Bal was the political editor of Open magazine and has worked with The Indian Express, Tehelka and Mail Today. He is the author of Waters Close Over Us, A Journey Along the Narmada and co-author of A Certain Ambiguity, A Mathematical Novel. He is trained as an engineer and a mathematician.”