Bangalore: Nine from coast get state Media Academy Awards
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)
Bangalore, Feb 25: The Karnataka Madhyama Academy Awards were conferred on persons with outstanding contributions to the field of journalism by chief minister Siddaramaiah at a function organized on Monday February 24 at the Banquet Hall of Vidhana Soudha. These awards pertain to the years 2012 and 2013.
Satish U Pai, Surendra S Wagle
B M Hanif, Ravi Hegde
Sadashiva Shenoy, Raghavendra Bhat
P S Chandrashekar, Thimmappa Bhat, Chetan Padubidri
Among the winners were nine from coastal region - Founder of Udayavani daily and managing director of Manipal Media Networks T Sathish U Pai, Chetan Padubidri of Udayavani (Mysore Diganta award for the best human interest article), B M Hanif of Prajavani (Dakshina Kannada), Surendra S Wagle of Vijayavani (Dakshina Kannada), Thimmappa Bhat of Vijayavani (Uttara Kannada), Sadashiva Shenoy (Dakshina Kannada), P S Chandrashekar (Udupi), Ravi Hegde of Udayavani (Uttara Kannada) and Raghavendra Bhat of Kannada Prabha (Uttarakannada).
They were among the 58 journalists to receive the awards. In addition to Satish Pai, Prof H S Eshwar from Shimoga and veteran journalist, H S Balaram, received special prize for lifetime contribution to the field of journalism.
Speaking on the occasion, president of Karnataka Working Journalists Union president, Gangadhar Modaliyar, thanked the chief minister for his positive response to the demand for providing health insurance to the families of journalists, and raising the honorarium for retired journalists to Rs 6,000 per month.
Minister for information, R Roshan Baig, presided over the programme. MLC, K Govindaraju, secretary of Kannada, culture, and information department, K R Niranjan, director of information department, N R Vishukumar, and academy secretary, S Shankarappa, were present.
In his introductory address, president of the academy, M A Ponnappa, said that the academy has now been functioning more professionally and actively than ever before.
In his address, chief minister, Siddaramaiah, requested the newspaper and television media to lay more emphasis on serving public interest rather that selfish interests. He asked them to give importance to value-based objective information and investigative reports rather than simply conveying falsified statements of political and other leaders. He also held himself against giving exaggerated coverage to unimportant news items for sensationalizing them.
The special awards carry cash reward Rs 20,000 each and a plaque, while the other awards carry Rs 10,000 in cash and a plaque.