Explaining his decision in a series of tweets, he said “If the external auditor of a venture you were invested in was accepting the company’s awards, you would be furious. The journalist is an external auditor to the government.”
Senior Journalist and founder of People’s Rural Archive of India (PARI) P Sainath on Wednesday declined to accept the YSR Lifetime Achievement Award given to him by the Andhra Pradesh government. He said that journalists shouldn’t accept awards from governments they cover or critique.
Explaining his decision in a series of tweets, he said “If the external auditor of a venture you were invested in was accepting the company’s awards, you would be furious. The journalist is an external auditor to the government.”
4/4. But it is on this belief – that independent journalists should not accept awards from governments they could be covering or critiquing tomorrow – that I must respectfully decline the YSR Lifetime Achievement Award from the Andhra Pradesh government.#Media #Awards
— P. Sainath (@PSainath_org) July 7, 2021
P Sainath further said that what distinguishes journalists from other professions like sportsperson, musicians, etc is that they are not “likely to be subsequently called upon to scrutinize the government’s functioning.”
“The point of non-acceptance is less about governments and more about the personal and professional ethical protocols of the journalist. I do not seek to impose mine on other journalists – others who choose to accept state awards have a right to do so,” he said.
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According to The Hindu, awardees of the YSR Lifetime Achievement award receive a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh along with a memento.
Last week, P Sainath was awarded the Fukuoka Grand Prize for 2021, which is established by Japan’s Fukuoka city and the Fukuoka City International Foundation. The award is given to individuals and organizations for their work in preserving Asian culture.
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