The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Exercise caution while reporting sensitive issues, media told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Exercise caution while reporting sensitive issues, media told

Special Correspondent

Karnataka Madhyama Academy awards presented to 29 journalists

WINNERS ALL: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly N. Dharam Singh along with winners of Karnataka Madhyama Acadamy awards in Bangalore on Monday. — Photo: K. Bhagy a Prakash

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday agreed that the media was under immense pressure on account of competition, and urged presspersons to make common cause with the Government for the welfare of the people.

The Chief Minister, who presented the annual awards (2005-06) of the Karnataka Madhyama Academy to 29 journalists for their contributions in the field at a function held at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall here, asked the media to exercise caution while reporting sensitive social issues which could disturb peace in society.

The media has to inform the people with objectivity and fairness. Mr. Kumaraswamy chose to remind journalists of their special role as communicators, and urged them use their profession to make development "truly happen."

Voice of people

Among the four organs of the democracy, the Fourth Estate represented the voice of the people. The media should direct the Government to correct its course when it took the wrong path. It should come out with suggestions for providing efficient administration. He said the Government would meet the financial demands of the academy.

Mr. Yediyurappa lamented that values were declining in society and the people were losing faith in democracy. The media should praise the Government when it delivered services to the people and criticise when it failed to respond to the grievances of the common man.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh released three books on the media and urged the Government to enhance allocation to the madhyama academy so that it could undertake training programmes and award fellowships for research projects.

Chairman of the academy V.N. Subba Rao pleaded for an annual grant of Rs. 50 lakh to the academy.

H.B. Dinesh, Secretary of the Academy welcomed the gathering.

The award winners Sachidananda Murthy, Chief of Bureau of The Week in New Delhi, R.P. Jagadish of Prajavani and Maya Sharma of NDTV spoke.

The Special Award of the Academy was given to Sachidananda Murthy. It carries a cash prize of Rs. 15,000, a memento and a citation.

The other award winners were: K. Gopinathan, Special Photographer, The Hindu, Bangalore; N.S. Ponnappa (Cartoonist) The Times of India, Bangalore; Munjane Sathya (Television journalist), Bangalore; Vijaya (film journalist), Bangalore; K.H. Savitri, Samyukta Karnataka, Bangalore; Rafi Bhandary, Daily Salar, Bijapur; R.P. Jagadish, formerly of Prajavani, Bangalore; R.T. Majjagi, Hubli; Indupura Honnapura, Bangalore; N. Gururaj, Udayavani, Manipal; H.L. Keshavamurthy, Udayakala, Mandya; S. Ranganath, Prathinidhi, Hassan; Eachanur Kumar, Vijaya Karnataka, Mysore; Ramakrishna, The New Indian Express, Raichur; Sheshamurthy Avadhani, Kannada Prabha, Gulbarga (Abhimani award); Basavaraj Hongal, Ushakirana, Bangalore (Mysore Digantha award).

Rural reporting.

In addition to the individual awardees, Karavali Munjavu, a newspaper published from Karwar got the Andolana award for rural reporting.

The awards to individuals for 2005 went M.T. Shivakumar, Bellary correspondent of Prajavani; K.R. Prakash of Samyukta Karnataka for a crime report; D. Garuda of Prajavani for the best sport report; Yallaappa Lakshmana Talavara of Belgaum for the best rural reporting (published in Vijaya Karnataka); Dinesh Shukla of Gurumitkal (Samyukta Karnataka) for the best feature story; N. Sridhar of Usha Kirana for best investigative report; S. Radhakrishna of Usha Kirana for the best news photograph and Ramadhyani of Shimoga for the best cartoon.

In the TV category, Gulbarga City Channel of Gulbarga bagged the prize for best special report on "Aneya Akrosha"; Maya Sharma of NDTV selected for her report on "Changing Bangalore" and C.N. Bhopaiah, newsreader, Udaya TV.

Kannada Prabha, a Kannada daily received the annual award (2005) of the Academy for its best front-page design and coverage of zilla and taluk panchayat elections results.

The sponsored award carries cash prize of Rs. 10,000 and a citation and others Rs. 5,000 and a citation, said a note issued by the Academy.

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