Indian magazine Caravan, known for its investigative reportage and in-depth poltical analysis, has won the 2021 Louis M Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.
The Nieman class of 1964 established the Louis M. Lyons Award in honor of the Nieman Foundation curator who retired that year after leading the institution for a quarter of a century. Lyons was a forceful advocate for freedom of the press.
While he was curator of the Nieman Foundation, he broke new ground by diversifying the class of fellows to include women, minorities and international fellows. The award honors displays of conscience and integrity by individuals, groups or institutions in communications.
The magazine is the first news organisation from India to win the award set up by the Nieman Fellows at Harvard University.
The selection of the publication for the award also came under “extraordinary and alarming circumstances”, a statement from the Nieman Foundation said.
According to the Nieman wesbite, The Caravan was recognised for ‘its unique and uncompromising coverage of the erosion of human rights, social justice, and democracy in India’.
“The Caravan’s recent coverage of nationwide farmers’ protests has drawn the ire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has attempted to shut down the magazine’s social media accounts and brought sedition charges against multiple Caravan employees,” the foundation said.
“Under such intimidation, The Caravan embodies an urgent commitment to conscience and integrity,” it added.
The Neiman Foundation said The Caravan has persistently spoken truth to power while documenting the rise of political Hinduism India over the past decade. The magazine’s work, the statement said, “is another chapter in a legacy of indispensable reporting in the world’s most populous democracy”.
The journalism students were also impressed with how reporters and editors at The Caravan have carried on with their work despite pressures and threats from the Central government, including multiple FIRs.
