Viveck Goenka's speech

Honourable Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

If my father were watching today, he would have been quite impatient with the first clip --- too one-sided, he would have said, let’s get straight to the story.

And he wouldn’t have been disappointed. For, it’s a story that celebrates two things closest to him: fine journalists and the finest in journalism.

That’s the foundation he laid for The Indian Express. And he then gave his life working to ensure that the foundation didn’t develop even the slightest crack whatever the pressure whatever the strain.

That’s the Ramnath Goenka Foundation. And its event this morning, the first Excellence in Journalism Awards, is a testimony to how far Ramnathji’s vision has travelled.

For Ramnathji, getting the story was an award in itself, the search for answers, the sifting of noise from news, the last piece of the puzzle falling in place.

As all our nominees today know, this is what takes them from story to story. Today’s awards means that all of us, not only journalists, applaud this spirit.

Because for excellence to be sustained and nurtured, more importantly, for excellence to be inspired, it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated.

Joseph Pulitzer, one of the most passionate American editor-crusaders against dishonesty and misuse of power, a man whom Ramnathji held in awe and respect, set down, way back in 1917, the most important reason for acknowledging journalistic excellence.

"I am deeply interested in the progress and elevation of journalism,” he said, “having spent my life in that profession, regarding it as a noble profession and one of unequaled importance for its influence upon the minds and morals of the people. I desire to assist in attracting to this profession young people of character and ability, also to help those already engaged in the profession to acquire the highest moral and intellectual training."

Almost one hundred years later, his words couldn’t be more relevant.

So if the world’s oldest democracy, the United States, has the Pulitzer Prizes, the world’s largest democracy has to have an award not only matching it in magnitude and scale but more diverse in its sweep.

An award whose reputation as the most prestigious and the most sought-after in journalism then becomes a major incentive for high-quality journalism in India. And at a time when we are being seen as a knowledge hub, focuses national and international attention on the finest of what our journalism has to offer.

That’s why the Ramnath Goenka Foundation, set up in his centenary year, decided that India needs the Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Just before I came here, I was reading and watching the stories that have got the awards. The one common element to all, besides, of course, that they illustrate the highest standards of the profession, is that all these stories are stories that NEEDED excellence and commitment, compassion and courage. This is not merely professionalism.

These are stories that could not have been done any way other than the way they were done.

That’s why we are here to applaud these journalists. It’s our duty.

Among the tributes paid to Ramnathji after his death in 1991, was a letter that came to a newspaper. The writer recalled how she, with some friends from college, thumbed a lift in Delhi from , and I quote “an old man driving a nondescript Fiat.” One of the young women asked him what he did at The Indian Express.

“Oh, I generally hang around,” he said.

Well, he is hanging around here today, I am sure.

He is waiting to applaud journalism he lived for.

Let’s join him.

Thank you for being here today.