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Tag: World Editors Forum

  • Mathrubhumi to organise a one-day event on World News Day

    Mathrubhumi to organise a one-day event on World News Day

    Mumbai: Mathrubhumi on Monday announced plans to host an event on World News Day on 28 September at the Uday Palace Convention Centre, Kowdiar Gardens, Thiruvananthapuram.

    Speaking of the event, Mathrubhumi managing director M. V. Shreyams Kumar, who will deliver the presidential address, elaborated on why the centurion institution was associated with the international event, said, “World News Day is a global campaign to display support for journalists and their audiences organised by the Canadian Journalism Foundation and WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum. By associating with this event, organised as a part of Mathrubhumi’s centenary celebrations, we intend to reinforce our identity as the custodian of credible and fact-checked journalism.” 

    Media mavens, eminent journalists, and owners will deliberate on the way ahead for practitioners of credible journalism in our age of disruption. The subject is “Sacred Facts: Media in a Post-Truth World.”

    The Hindu former chief editor N. Ram, the doyen of Indian journalism, will deliver the inaugural address. The keynote speech of the first session on “Fact Punch: Curated Media and its Challenges” is by the Indian Express’s former editor Arun Shourie. The event will start at 10 a.m. with a welcome address by Mathrubhumi vice president of operations Devika Shreyams Kumar.

    The Times of India, Tamil Nadu resident editor Arun Ram; Outlook former editor Ruben Banerjee; senior journalist Seema Chisti; and Frontline editor Vaishna Roy are the discussants, with The Hindu, Delhi resident editor Varghese K. George moderating the session.

    The post-lunch session between 1.45 p.m. and 3.15 p.m. will be on “Counter Media: Narratives, Lapses in Reporting, and Self-Critique,” to be moderated by N. Open Magazine executive editor P. Ullekh. The keynote address will be given by India Today TV consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai.

    Senior journalist Hari S Kartha will be on the panel, as will Madhyamam editor V. M. Ibrahim, social media activist Kiran Thomas, Asianet News Group editorial advisor M. G. Radhakrishnan, and media critic advocate Sebastian Paul.

    The concluding session between 3.45 p.m. and 5.15 p.m. will be on “The way forward: Is fact-based journalism a winning proposition?” featuring ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey; Kairali TV managing director John Brittas MP; The News Minute editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran; Boom Fact Check managing editor Jency Jacob and Ananda Vikatan managing director B. Srinivasan. While the keynote speech will be delivered by The Indian Express executive director Anant Goenka, the session will be moderated by Mathrubhumi director of digital business Mayura Shreyams Kumar.

    All three sessions will be followed by audience-discussant interaction.

  • World media condemns murder of newspersons in India

    World media condemns murder of newspersons in India

    NEW DELHI: Several organisations within and outside India have condemned the vicious murders of three journalists in India and have called on the authorities to act swiftly to bring the perpetrators to justice.

     

    The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have written to the authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to demand thorough investigations into the killings of Jogendra Singh and Sandeep Kothari, and to call for better protections for press freedom and the safety of journalists.

     

    The Delhi Union of Journalists and the Press Club of India have also asked the government and police authorities to act swiftly to bring the perpetrators to book in the cases of the murders of Jogendra Singh, Sandeep Kothari and Aaj Tak reporter Akshay Singh and to ensure adequate protection to mediapersons.

     

    Aaj Tak reporter Akshay Singh had gone to Madhya Pradesh to probe the Vyapam scam which has led to illegal admissions of thousands of students into higher institutions.

     

    He died in mysterious circumstances soon after interviewing the parents of a girl who had died in similar mysterious circumstances. The 36-year old mediaperson felt uneasy and was waiting for some documents when froth started coming out of his mouth and he collapsed. 

     

    The brutal murder of Jogendra Singh on 1 June in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, reportedly involved six policemen – accompanied by a mob of 20 people – who beat the journalist before setting fire to him at his home in front of horrified witnesses. After suffering serious burns, he died on 8 June.

     

    In a declaration made before a judicial officer shortly before he passed away, the journalist identified his assailants and charged they had carried out the attack on behalf of UP Minister Ramamurthy Varma.

     

    According to local media reports, the journalist had exposed land grabbing, illegal mining operations and sexual assault on women in Shahjahanpur, and had said evidence pointed to involvement of the minister, local police officials, and criminal gangs. The attackers who poured kerosene oil over him and burned him reportedly said they were teaching him “an extreme lesson”.

     

    State police reportedly allowed a story to circulate that Jogendra Singh had committed suicide, while a witness who had confirmed Singh was in fact set ablaze subsequently changed her testimony following his death. Local reports also suggest there was immense pressure on medical and forensic experts to support the suicide theory, along with his family.

     

    “We urge you to hand over the investigation to an independent team and to ensure the state government takes harsh actions as prescribed under law against those found to be responsible for Jogendra Singh’s murder, even – and especially – if the killers occupy high positions in the government,” said WAN-IFRA in a letter addressed to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. “There is also an urgent need for you, as the leader of the government of the most populous state in India, to send a strong message that there will be zero tolerance for those who intimidate and attack journalists.”

     

    In a letter to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan regarding the murder of journalist Sandeep Kothari, WAN-IFRA called for a thorough and impartial investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding his death. Kothari was kidnapped from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh before his body was discovered in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra on 21 June.

     

    Kothari worked for the reputed Hindi-language newspaper Nai Duniya and was a freelance contributor to a number of publications at the time of his murder. Known for his investigations into the activities of the ‘mining mafia’, he had filed a variety of applications for sensitive government information under the Right to Information Act.

     

    His journalistic work had reportedly antagonised a number of people inside and outside of the state government, and Kothari had faced a barrage of criminal complaints.

     

    According to his lawyer, the journalist had been acquitted in 19 of the 20 cases filed against him. Local media reports have suggested Kothari’s murder was a conspiracy hatched by the ‘mining mafia’ that had come under close scrutiny as a result of his journalistic work.

     

    Many journalist groups in Madhya Pradesh have expressed concern over the murder of their colleague, particularly as police and state authorities have attempted to portray Kothari as a criminal before any investigation has taken place.

  • IndiaSpend to present data journalism initiative at World Newspaper meet in India

    IndiaSpend to present data journalism initiative at World Newspaper meet in India

    NEW DELHI: IndiaSpend.com director of research Dr Julie Hudman will present a case study on the country’s first data journalism initiative at the forthcoming WAN-IFRA India 2013 / Publish Asia Conference in India.

     

    Organised by the World Association of Newspapers, the meet will be held from 11 to 13 September at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore.

     

    IndiaSpend’s mission is to tell stories focused on governance, transparency and accountability in India using data analysis and also produce smart, engaging articles and formats disseminated in a manner that is appealing to young India and others. Dr Hudman’s presentation will focus on why data journalism is important, both to media and to consumers of media. Indian speakers include KSL Digital, India assistant vice president P.D Sundar.

     

    Other speakers at the conference include: Erik Bjerager, editor-in-chief & managing director, World Editors Forum, Denmark president Kristeligt Dagblad; Financial Times, United Kingdom managing editor James Lamont; Polaris Media, Australia operations manager Rod Kenning; Mediterranean Media Centre, France founder Terry Maguire; Paragram, Norway consultant Hakan Helander; design consultant, Germany Robb Montgomery and Luxemburger Wort, Luxemborg managing editor Andreas Holpert.