New Delhi: The prestigious Press Council of India awards for journalists appear to be stuck in a bind. In an unprecedented decision, the chairman of the Press Council of India Justice C.K. Prasad called a general body meeting on November 6 to review the awardees finalised by the seven-member jury.
The PCI awards are annually given on the National Press Day on November 16. A jury comprising of journalists is formed by the council six months before the date. It recommends awardees in various categories – including the Raja Ram Mohan Roy award, which is given to a senior journalist for a lifetime contribution to the field. The jury’s decision is taken as the final word.
That is precisely why Prasad’s decision to review the jury’s decision is surprising.
Council members, who spoke to The Wire on the condition of anonymity, said that the review meeting is on November 6. “The jury’s decisions were finalised on October 18 after rigorous consultations. Final recommendations were sent to all council members. Now if the chairman decides to change those awardees, it will be difficult for the PCI to hold the award ceremony on November 16,” a council member said.
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The chairman’s decision came after the jury unanimously decided to award the distinguished Raja Ram Mohan Roy award to Rajasthan Patrika’s editor-in-chief Gulab Kothari. The media group had run a pitched campaign against many decisions taken by the erstwhile Vasundhara Raje Scindia-led BJP government in Rajasthan. It had been taking strong stands on the issue of press freedom.
When the Scindia government brought an ordinance that protected public servants in the state from being probed for on-duty action and sought to gag reporting on the issue by the media, Rajasthan Patrika had openly protested.
Another council member raised the point that the chairman found fault with the Jury’s decisions only at the last moment.
“The jury met several times over the last few months. The PCI secretary was a part of all meeting. No objection was raised by the chairman at any point. Only once the jury’s decisions were taken, he had a problem,” the member said.
He added that even if that was the case, he could have resolved the issue by calling a meeting with the jury instead of seeking feedback from all members.
“On October 31, he sent the jury’s report to all the council members and sought their response. Only three members responded. Two of them had no problem with the report while one objected to the choice of Kothari. He said that since the Rajasthan Patrika group had recently sacked some of its employees, Kothari should not be given an award,” the member said.
Following his objection, the chairman called for a council meeting on November 6. “The fact that Rajasthan Patrika may have sacked some of its employees can’t be the criterion for not giving the award to Kothari. Last year, the Hindu’s editor N. Ram was given the award. Even that media group has had to lay off some people.”
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Apart from the Raja Ram Mohan Roy award, chairman Prasad also objected to Jury’s decision to have more than one awardees in other categories. “The PCI award was instituted to give awards to distinguished works of journalists from all states. That is why we have had more than one awardee in many categories. Even the Raja Ram Mohan Roy award was shared by two people in the past,” the member said, adding that awardees are decided on the basis of the scores they get from jury members. In case the scores are the same for more than one person, both are awarded.
Members said that usually they are told the names of the winners only a day before the award ceremony. “However, this review meeting undermines the role of the jury,” a council member said, adding that the jury itself is chosen every year by all council members.
In answer to a question on whether they sense pressure from the Centre behind the chairman’s unprecedented move, the members said that “such a possibility can’t be ruled out”.
When The Wire reached out to Prasad, he said he would comment only after the Wednesday meeting.
Launched in 2012, the PCI awards are given to scribes in eight categories. While the jury nominates the awardee for the Raja Ram Mohan Roy award, journalist send their entries for all other categories. The awards were to be presented on November 16 by vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu.
