Amitabh Bachchan gives away Citizen Journalist Awards

Media News

New Delhi, February 16, 2010

IBN18 Network today announced the winners of the Citizen Journalist Awards, an award that recognises the efforts of the ordinary men and women who have played a vital role in reporting news fearlessly in order to bring a change in the system for a better tomorrow. In a glittering ceremony held in the capital today, legendary silver screen icon Amitabh Bachchan felicitated fourteen Citizen Journalists for their courageous reporting under six categories including CJ Fight Back, CJ Save Your City, CJ Be the Change, CJ Photo, CJ Video and Special CJ (Refer to annexure for details). The awards ceremony was a recognition of not only the extraordinary achievements of these exceptional men and women, but also bore testament to the fact that the Citizen Journalist (CJ) initiative which started off as a movement has now become a nationwide platform of empowerment. The evening also saw a special performance by famous playback singer Shilpa Rao which left the audience mesmerised. The award ceremony will be telecast on February 20, 2010 on IBN7, IBN-Lokmat and CNN-IBN at 7 PM, 8 PM and 9:30 PM respectively.

The Citizen Journalist Awards are presented by IDEA Cellular Limited who is also the founding title sponsor of this initiative. Citizen Journalism has proved to be a revolutionary mass movement enabling the participation of the common man in the news making process and in providing a voice to those of our countrymen and countrywomen whose voices previously went unheard. This initiative has truly transformed into a mass movement with the winners hailing from the length and breadth of the country ranging from Jammu and Kashmir to Maharashtra, from the Nation Capital New Delhi to the remote Garhwa district in Jharkand. The stories of each of these winners are truly inspirational and a shining example of selfless struggle for the betterment of others. These include CJ Raziya Sultan who at the tender age of thirteen spoke out against child labour and exploitation in her village near Meerut and whose efforts resulted in more than fifty families sending back their children to school. There is also CJ Pooja who despite being a former victim of the sex trade herself is today waging a battle to free other hapless women from the clutches of human traffickers and CJ Dhananjay Kumar Singh from Jharkand who waged a battle against caste inequality and ensured that people from backward castes were given access to basic amenities like education and were able to reap the benefits of various government schemes.

The Citizen Journalist Awards follow a 2-tier selection process that involves the IBN18 Editorial Board that generates a list of nominees across six award categories and the Jury comprising of Eminent Citizens who have shown the way. The distinguished jury members this year include Dr. Kiran Bedi, renowned for her prison reforms in Tihar Jail and Magsaysay Award Winner for Government Service along Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay Award Winner for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's Right to Information movement. The Jury also includes Neelam Katara who won national fame for her fight against the alleged killers of her son and Aniruddha Bahal one of India's best known investigative journalists. The other distinguished jury members include Ranjana Kumari a prominent activist and widely regarded as a leading force in the women's movement in India and Rajendra Yadav one of the eminent Hindi fiction writers, and one of the pioneers of Nayi Kahani, Hindi literary movement. The jurists deliberate along with the editorial board over the nominees and then select the final Citizen Journalist Awards winners. Out of the total 32 nominees, 14 Citizen Journalists have been awarded for their outstanding contribution in reporting the truth across the 6 award categories. Web users can conveniently access all the details about the Citizen Journalist Awards including details on the nominees at the website http://www.citizenjournalistawards.com.

Over the past years, Citizen Journalism has taken the form of a silent movement of citizen empowerment and revolutionised the news system in India. The Citizen Journalist show on IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat laud the efforts of the Citizen Journalists across the country on a weekly basis throughout the year. The Citizen Journalist Show is also a dedicated programme on CNN-IBN that runs as short episodic series through the year. The contribution of Citizen Journalism towards empowering the citizens of the country and enabling their active contribution towards the news gathering process has been recognized by the Limca Book of Records. Citizen Journalist initiative has also received an overwhelming response on social media platforms such as, Facebook and Twitter. The enthusiasm with which the online community has embraced the movement stands testimony to the popularity of the Citizen Journalist movement and also the fact that the citizens of India are willing to stand up for their rights given the right platform. A pioneer in participatory journalism, Citizen Journalism offers the common man a platform to fight for a cause and tell the story to the world. The citizens can file their story in just simple steps. They can click a picture or make a video from camera or mobile, send the same on CJ@ibnlive.com and can register online at www.ibnlive.com/CJ to file a story. The website has been made very interactive as well as user friendly to enable mass participation in a simplified manner.

Speaking about the initiative, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network, said, "It gives me great pride and pleasure to be sharing the stage with the winners of the IBN18 Network Citizen Journalist Awards. Each one of these individuals has waged selfless struggles to highlight the injustices they see around them and provide succor to those who cannot fight for their own rights. We are proud to have been able to provide them a platform to voice their concerns and reaffirm our commitment today to continue to work in tandem with the Citizen Journalists of the future to build a more just and equitable society."

Speaking about the award, Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN7, said, "I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners of the IBN18 Network Citizen Journalist Awards. The significant contributions of these extraordinary men and women who chose to raise their voice rather than be mute spectators against the ills of society around them need to be acknowledged and applauded. We are confident that the ranks of these Citizen Journalists will continue to grow in the coming months."

Speaking about the award, Nikhil Wagle, Editor, IBN-Lokmat said "The Citizen Journalist movement is a tribute to not just the principles of inclusive journalism but also the democratic ideals on which our great nation is built. We salute these men and women who have served as the conscience of society to ensure that even as we march forward on the golden path of progress we do not forget about our less fortunate countrymen whose voices too need to be heard."

For further information, please contact:

Hanmer MS& L

Ashutosh Srivastava

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Email: ashutoshsrivastava@hanmermsl.com