‘The Caravan’ wins Louis M Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism

The Caravan magazine has become the first news organisation from India to win the Louis M Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, set up by the Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, in recognition of its unique and uncompromising coverage of the erosion of human rights, social justice, and democracy in India. The winner was chosen by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism’s class of 2021 at Harvard University.

“The fellows note that the selection of this publication came under extraordinary and alarming circumstances,” a statement from the Nieman Foundation said.

“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”.

“Risking violence and imprisonment, its reporters have written an essential series of investigations into Hindu supremacist terrorism, political murder, caste and gender injustice, and ethnic violence against India’s Muslim minority,” it said, adding, “The Caravan has repeatedly demonstrated that it represents a beacon of moral clarity in Indian public life.”

Vinod K Jose, executive editor of the magazine took to Twitter to acknowledge the award:

Its political editor Hartosh Singh Bal tweeted:

The Nieman class of 1964 established the Louis M. Lyons Award in honour 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.

Each class of Nieman Fellows decides whether to present the award during their Nieman year, which is a new trend of letting youth take such decisions.

The Nieman class of 1964 selected Vietnam correspondents as the first recipient of the Lyons Award. The class of 1965 gave the award posthumously to broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, and the class of 1966 honored Wilson Minor of The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

No awards were made again until 1981, when the program was reinstituted by Curator James C. Thomson Jr. and given posthumously to Joe Alex Morris Jr. of the Los Angeles Times, who was killed while covering the Iranian Revolution.

A plaque that hangs in Walter Lippmann House, home of the Nieman Foundation, records the name of all winners. The award carried a $1,000 honorarium.

The news of ‘The Caravan’ winning the award was welcomed by authors and senior journalists: