By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: An Indian magazine has won a prestigious American award for upholding conscience and integrity in journalism.
The Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism on February 8 chose New Delhi-based The Caravan, a journal of politics and culture, for the 2021 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.
The award recognized The Caravan’s “unique and uncompromising coverage of the erosion of human rights, social justice, and democracy in India.”
The fellows of the Nieman Foundation’s 2021 class that chose the Indian publication point out that their selection comes under extraordinary and alarming circumstances, a statement from the foundation said.
The award recognizes displays of conscience and integrity by individuals, groups or institutions in communication, says a press note from the Harvard University.
The Caravan’s recent coverage of nationwide farmers’ protests has drawn the ire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has attempted to shut down the magazine’s social media accounts and brought sedition charges against multiple Caravan employees. Under such intimidation, The Caravan embodies an urgent commitment to conscience and integrity, reports “Nieman News.”
The Caravan is the first Indian news organization to win the award established in 1964 by the Nieman Fellows at the Harvard University.
The award announcement came as Vinod K Jose, The Caravan’s editor-in-chief, and five other journalists faced multiple sedition cases for allegedly tweeting unverified news
The Supreme Court of India on February 9 protected Jose and others from arrest in connection cases related to farmers’ protest January 26, India’s Republic Day. They tweeted that a young farmer died at the hands of the police during a tractor rally on that day. Besides the journalists, Shashi, a politician and former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, too faced the sedition charges.
Reacting to the award news, Jose, an alumnus of the Harvard University, said: “Such a humbling news. The good journalism of The Caravan team gets international recognition.”
He also said the award is an “amazing news Thank you Nieman, Thank you Harvard.”
The Caravan is India’s first long-form narrative journalism magazine produced by the Delhi Press 81 years ago. It was discontinued in 1988 but relaunched in 2010 as a journal of politics and culture dedicated to meticulous reporting and the art of narrative. Since then, the publication has become as one of the country’s most respected and intellectually agile magazines, setting new benchmarks for Indian journalism.
The Caravan’s recent work is another chapter in a legacy of indispensable reporting in the world’s most populous democracy. It has repeatedly demonstrated that it represents a beacon of moral clarity in Indian public life, says the award citation.
“Risking violence and imprisonment, its reporters have written an essential series of investigations into Hindu supremacist terrorism, political murder, caste and gender injustice, and ethnic violence against India’s Muslim minority,” it adds.
The Vietnam correspondents were the first recipient of the award in 1964.