By IANS,
New Delhi : The IBN network gave away the first ever citizen journalist awards here Thursday evening to honour those who “made an impact” by reporting on a cause close to their hearts.
Based on the concept of inclusive journalism, it was promoted in India for the first time by the English and Hindi wings of the IBN network – CNN-IBN and IBN7 – two years ago.
“Citizen journalism engages the viewer in public life and encourages them to be proactive. It also transforms news into an interactive and multilateral process,” said Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief, IBN network.
He added: “Citizen journalist awards rewards the best citizen journalists who have made an impact with their effort to find truth.”
Ashutosh, managing editor IBN7, echoed the same and said: “Citizen journalism is one of the best examples of citizen empowerment. It brings viewers to report the problem exactly in the manner they see it.”
Chief guest Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit felicitated 22 CJs for fearless reporting under seven categories – special CJ, fight back, save your city, green CJ, be the change, best videos and images.
Some of those who received the award were Sam Taraporewala, Kamalveer,Prasanna Kumar Pincha, Rakesh Reddy, Leena Pawar, Mahendranath Chaturvedi,Sameer Mehta, Philip Macwan, Aarti Mahajan.
Bollywood actor Rahul Bose was awarded the eminent citizen journalist award.
The nominations for different categories were picked by the editorial heads of the network before the final decision by the jury that included eminent personalities like Kiran Bedi, Prasoon Joshi, Madhu Trehan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Nandita Das, Neelam Krishnamoorthy and Arvind Kejriwal.