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Newdelhi:19/3/25:The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu presented the 19th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards at a function held in New Delhi today (March 19, 2025).
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the importance of free and fair journalism for democracy cannot be overestimated. If the citizens are not well-informed, the democratic processes lose their very meaning.
The President said that a thriving newsroom full of ideas is essential for the business of news. She highlighted the importance of a research wing to ensure quality and accuracy of news. She stated that news gathering, the soul of journalism, must be strengthened. She urged media organisations to devote more resources to encouraging the culture of reporting from the ground.
The President said that earlier, newspapers and magazines sought to offer qualitative reporting and analysis, and readers bought their copies. A sufficient number of readers meant a good platform for advertisers, who subsidized the costs. She pointed out that in recent decades, however, this model has been replaced by many hybrid models. She stated that their success must be measured by their effect on the quality of journalism. She added that there are only a limited number of sources of funding, which could be the State or corporate entities or the reader. While the first two have their advantages and limitations, the third option of keeping the reader at the center is the most preferable option. It has only one limitation: sustaining that model seems difficult.
Speaking on the issue of content creation, the President expressed confidence that we will soon reach a stage when malicious content will be weeded out, and the so-called post-truth will go out of currency. She noted that technological tools are also being applied to that end. She advised to hasten that process with pro-active campaigns to educate citizens about these pitfalls. She said that the hazard of deepfakes and other misuses of artificial intelligence compels us to sensitize all citizens about this critical aspect of news. The young generation, in particular, should be educated to spot the bias and the agenda in any form of news report or analysis.
The President said that AI is disrupting the world, creating new opportunities as well as new challenges in many sectors including journalism. Machines have already started compiling and editing reports. What they lack, however, is empathy, which will be the one ingredient that can help journalists beat AI. Journalism based on human values is not going to be extinct ever.
Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards winners list (27 winners)
| S.No. | Award Category | Full Name | Publication/ Channel | P/D/B | Winning Story |
| 1. | Hindi | Mridulika Jha | Aaj Tak | Print/ Digital | For her story mapping the treacherous ‘Dunki route’ that young people take out of villages in Haryana to get to the US |
| 2. | Regional Languages | Jisha Elizabeth | Madhyamam | Print/ Digital | For her chilling story on how Thailand-based human traffickers recruited three Indian youths. Transported to Myanmar by cybercrime gangs, the youths were forced to work as scammers, subjected to brutal torture and witnessed horrific acts of violence against their fellow workers. |
| 3. | Environment, Science and Technology Reporting | Sibu Kumar Tripathi | India Today | Print/ Digital | For his series on Joshimath, where rapid infrastructure development, hydroelectric projects and a population boom led to the area’s destabilisation and its sinking crisis |
| 4. | Uncovering India Invisible | Satyasundar Barik | The Hindu | Print4 | For his series of stories on moving and migration – from the missing daughters of Odisha’s border villages, to how descendants of Bengali Hindu immigrant families from erstwhile thrived in Odisha’s Nabarangpur. |
| 5. | Business & Economic Journalism | Twesh Mishra | The Economic Times | For his story on how the government’s flagship programme to boost local manufacturing of EVs in India was being flouted by makers, who were importing components and using fake documents to receive subsidies worth over Rs 400 crore. | |
| 6. | Reporting on Politics And Government | Maitri Porecha | The Hindu | For her detailed accounts after the Balasore train tragedy — from the heart-wrenching tale of how Aadhaar was used to identify a patient to how DNA testing for over 50 bodies had been hit due to non-retrieval of proper samples | |
| 7. | Sports Journalism | Shahab Ali, Amarnath Kashyap | Hindustan | For their exposé on gold medallist Asha Kiran Barla’s village, Navadih in Jharkhand, which lacked even the most basic of amenities — clean drinking water. Their story spurred the local district administration to take immediate corrective steps. | |
| 8. | Investigative Reporting | Nihal AP Koshie, Mahender Singh Manral, Mihir Vasavda | The Indian Express | For their stories on the protests and events that followed after Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the face of India’s wrestling federation, was charged for sexual harassment. | |
| 9. | Feature Writing | Shubhajit Roy | The Indian Express | For his ground reports from Israel — from the Gaza border to the Palestinian territory of West Bank — on the searing pain felt by the locals on seeing their home under attack, and tales of death and destruction all around. | |
| 10. | Foreign Correspondent Covering India | Nilesh Christopher | Rest of World | Print/ Digital | For his stories on the societal impact of two of the biggest talking points — AI and the shift in manufacturing away from China. For using forensic analysis and AI reporting to debunk a politician’s claim, and for using the Foxconn experience to highlight the consequence of replicating Chinese-style manufacturing in India. |
| 11. | Prakash Kardaley Memorial Award for Civic Journalism | Jeet Mashru, Somita Pal | Hindustan Times | For their story on how a shortage in BMC-run hospitals in Mumbai forced patients to buy even basic supplies from pharmacies outside. Their impactful story — and a subsequent government probe — led to the civic body introducing a new ‘Zero Prescription Policy’. | |
| 12. | Photo Journalism | P. Ravikumar | The New Indian Express | For his haunting photographs that captured the devastation after a massive oil spill in a north Chennai river due to Cyclone Michaung. | |
| 13. | Books (Non-Fiction) | A.R. Venkatachalapathy | Penguin Random House | For his book on a small port town lawyer named V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, whose novel idea challenged the very might of the British empire. |
Broadcast
| 1. | Hindi | Siddhant Mohan | The Lallantop | Broadcast/ Digital |
For his ground report on the real Kerala story — away from the simplistic narratives offered by a feature film. |
| 2. | Regional Languages | Mandar Gonjari | ABP Majha | Broadcast | For his stories on how an undertrial ran a successful synthetic drug racket — from his bed in Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital |
| 3. | Environment, Science & Technology | Joel Michael, Rohini Krishnamurthy | Down To Earth | Broadcast/ Digital | For their story on deadly industrial pollution in Punjab — how 11 persons dropped dead in 15 minutes due to a gas leak from open sewers in Ludhiana’s Giaspura in April 2023. |
| 4. | Uncovering India Invisible | Vishnukant Tiwari, Athar Rather | The Quint | Broadcast/ Digital | For their three-part series on how women were tortured, paraded naked and ultimately killed in interior Jharkhand — in the name of witchcraft. |
| 5. | Politics and Government | Ashutosh Mishra | India Today TV | Broadcast | For his ground reports on ethnic violence in Manipur — from getting caught in the crossfire to being hostage for a few hours, from government statements to stories from ground zero. |
| 6. | Sports Journalism | Tejas Vaidya, Enakshi Rajvanshi | BBC Hindi | Broadcast/ Digital | For their inspiring story on how disabled women cricketers from Gujarat are gaining a new identity and self-confidence through the sport despite the lack of institutional support. |
| 7. | Investigative Reporting | Anurag Dwary | NDTV | Broadcast | For his investigation into a medical college scam across Madhya Pradesh — how these schools were run in tiny rooms, had sub-par training standards and how there were no exams for students for years. |
