NEW DELHI: In a fitting finale to a year that saw some very tumultuous coverage for television news channels highlighted among others by the Indian victory of the ICC Cricket World Cup and the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare, the best in the world of the electronic media were felicitated at the gala event of the 5th News Television Awards here this evening.
Over 135 awards in different categories in four languages – English, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu – were presented amidst huge cheers by a large number of high profile dignitaries from the world of television, performing arts, sports, fashion, bureaucracy, and politics.
While presenting the awards, Indiantelevision.com founder and CEO Anil Wanvari said ethics and credibility will be the key to news coverage with the changeover to digital technology. He therefore advised media persons to find the right model for news according to their viewership.
There were three cases where the awards were shared amongst two channels, but there were several individual programmes or individual newspersons and anchors who received more than one award.
The awards gala was hosted by television actress Manini Dey Mishra and TV presenter Denzil O’Connell, who made some interesting comments on the way news is presented or about politics and personalities in general, leaving the audience in splits.
Indiantelevision.com general manager Anoop Wanvari referred in his opening remarks that the awards were aimed at encouraging young people in doing better, and echoed the sentiments of Anil Wanvari, when he called for more channels to send entries for these awards – which were the first to be instituted especially for news TV channels.
Awards were given for the best in categories like crime shows, sports shows, gadget and auto programmes, documentaries with limited duration, news presentation, anchors and news readers, business news programmes, investigative reporting, current affairs, prime time news cast, popular news show, use of graphics, set design (actual and virtual), cameraperson, promos, show packaging, news reporters and presenters, entertainment critics and news anchors, business programmes, public debates, and lifestyle and fashion.
Special awards were given for coverage of two major events of 2011 – the World Cup win for India, and the agitation for a Lok Pal by Anna Hazare. There was also a special award for the best news person under 24 years of age.
Those who had come to give away the awards included Central Information Commission chief Wajahat Habbibullah, Birju Maharaj, Aman Ali Khan, HK Dua, politicians Dr Subramaniam Swamy and Jaya Jaitley, Kiran Bedi, fashion designer Ritu Beri, danseuse Shovana Narayan, former cricket player Bishen Singh Bedi, former RBI chief Bimal Jalan, Doordarshan deputy director general Raj Shekhar Vyas, Rashmi Rizhwani, Babbal Sabharwal, Shaswati Sen, industrialist Mohit Burman, Francis Wacziarg of Neemrana Hotels, and veteran media person Kuldip Nayyar.
The awards function came at the end of a news summit on ‘Seeking a growth injection: Is digitisation the answer for the news television business’ which saw representatives of leading news channels, direct-to-home platforms and others in the television news industry taking part in four different sessions on ‘Tech Trends’, ‘A look at the Genre’, ‘Content’, and ‘The Leader Panel’.
