Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 8: Editor of Dharitri and Orissa POST, Tathagata Satpathy Saturday got the ‘Editor of the Year’ award during the maiden Orissa Media Award ceremony held at the Soochna Bhavan in the city. The awards were designed to give recognition to the working journalists for their valuable contributions in the field of journalism.
The event was organised by such agencies as Young India, Action Aid, Community Radio Association of India and Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia. A number of people from the field of journalism were felicitated for their performance in their respective domains. Awards in 17 different categories were given to the media persons.
The expert panel entrusted with the task of selecting the best performing journalists from different categories decided to confer on Satpathy the ‘Editor of the Year’ award. A discussion session on ‘Is journalism entering the phase of Activism?’ was also organised on the occasion.
Satpathy during his speech said, “The regional media has a greater role to play in the society. It needs to focus on issues that largely affect the greater population as catering to the interests of the whole population is hardly possible by the (national) media.” He also said that ownership of media houses is very crucial as it largely affects the editorial policy of the unit.
During the session a panel of experts from different fields also expressed their views on media. Vinod Pavarala, UNESCO chair of community media, University of Hyderabad said, “In the past many experiments had been made by great journalists to report on pro-people issues and which connected the people to the mainstream media. The scene of journalism is changing now, but we need to maintain the standards set earlier.”
Haraprasad Das, noted columnist who also got an award for his quality columns said, “Many media houses portray what they want to show. As the consumers of the news we need not rely on and get carried away by what has been portrayed in the mainstream (media). The language and presentation in media have undergone some changes with time, but in this field high standards will pave the way for a successful media.”
During the event 18 people were felicitated in different categories. Editors, reporters working in different fields in all available media forms were given awards for their contributions to the field of journalism. Awards were given to people working in newspapers, TV channels, FM channels, community radio and internet radio.