Barkha Dutt bags this award for her outstanding contribution to journalism. “The award consists of a purse of Rs 1 lakh, a memento, and certificate,” Media Academy Chairman RS Babu told UNI on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“Ms. Barkha Dutt was selected for the National Award for the Year-2020 for her courageous 100-days reporting on COVID by traveling from Kerala to Jammu Kashmir by road during the most challenging pandemic period,” he said.<\/p>\n
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to present the award at a ‘Photo Exhibition’ to be held in Thiruvananthapuram between February 13 and 23, 2022, he added. Ms. Barkha Dutta has been selected for the prestigious award by a committee headed by former Editorial Director of Malayala Manorama Thomas Jacob, he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Ms Barkha Dutt also tweeted that “Just informed that I have received the National Media Award from the Kerala Media academy, for Covid reportage @themojostory Thank you so much -peer recognition always has such a special place. The ceremony had to be postponed because of COVID, hopefully in the new year https:\/\/t.co\/gDVVPknLri.” Kerala Media Academy is an autonomous institution under the Government of Kerala. Launched as Kerala Press Academy in 1979, the establishment is a joint venture between the Government, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), and the Indian Newspaper Society (INS).<\/p>\n
She is an opinion columnist with The Hindustan Times and The Washington Post.\u00a0 She was part of NDTV’s team for 21 years until she left the channel in January 2017<\/a>.\u00a0 Barkha arose as a well-known journalist after her frontline war reporting on the Kargil Conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999.<\/p>\n She was born in New Delhi to S. P. Dutt, an Air India official, and Prabha Dutt, who was a well-known journalist with the Hindustan Times.\u00a0 Dutt credits her journalistic skills to her mother, a pioneer among women journalists in India. Her younger sister, Bahar Dutt, is also a television journalist working for CNN IBN. She describes herself as an agnostic who rejects religion.\u00a0 \u00a0Her father died of coronavirus in April 2021.<\/p>\n Dutt graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a degree in English literature. She received a Master’s in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia Mass Communication Research Center, New Delhi. She started her journalism career with NDTV and later rose to head the English news wing of the organization. She also obtained a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, New York assisted by an Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation scholarship. Her reporting of the Kargil conflict in 1999, including an interview with Captain Vikram Batra, brought her to prominence in India. She has braved war coverage reporting conflicts in Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.<\/p>\n While covering the events of the 2002 Gujarat violence, Dutt identified attackers and victims of a riot as “Hindus” and “Muslims” on television, flouting the guidelines of the Press Council of India. She has received negative bash for some of her work. For the 2008 Mumbai attacks, she was blamed for sensationalizing the events, putting lives at risk, and causing deaths by identifying on live television where the hotel guests might be located.\u00a0 Britta Ohm wrote in 2011 that Dutt is criticized for “secular shrillness”, betraying the cause of Kashmiri Pandits, over-the-top nationalism in the reporting of the Kargil conflict, and for soft-pedaling Hindutva.<\/p>\n At a time when most people were afraid to venture out during the COVID-19<\/a> Migration Crisis, her extensive on-road coverage<\/a> brought out and documented the difficulties faced by migrant workers all over North India.<\/p>\n She has won a series of awards and her Sunday talk show has won the most awards out of any show on Indian television, winning the Indian Television Academy award for Best Talk Show five years in a row,\u00a0 She was awarded “Best TV News Anchor (English) for her program “We the people” at the first Indian News Television Awards in 2007.<\/p>\n In 2008, the Indian government headed by Manmohan Singh awarded Barkha Dutt the Padma Shri, a civilian honor, for her coverage of the 2004 tsunami.<\/p>\n She has twice been named on the list of 100 “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” compiled by the World Economic Forum (2001, 2008). In 2005, she was among 50 Indians who were 35 or younger and listed for their achievements and impact on society.<\/p>\n In 2010, she was appointed as a member of India’s National Integration Council. She was named an Asia Society Fellow in 2006 and serves on the International Advisory Council of the Asia Society.<\/p>\n Dutt was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediapersons in 2000.<\/p>\n Barkha Dutt has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, and was one of the journalists taped in the Radia tapes controversy.\u00a0 \u00a0At NDTV, she was the host of the weekly, award-winning talk show.<\/p>\n She is one of those unique journalists, courageous out on the road, braving jungles, landslides, and dangerous terrain, with also a powerful media presence in front of a camera.<\/p>\nCareer<\/strong><\/h3>\n
COVID 19 Coverage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Lists of Awards<\/strong><\/h3>\n