R.AGE journalists lauded for their work in India

Keep up the good work: (From left) Kothari and Gen Rawat presenting the KC Kulish Award in Excellence in Journalism to R.AGE journalist Satpal Kaler. — RAJASTHAN PATRIKA

NEW DELHI: The acclaimed work of the R.AGE multimedia investigative journalism team has been recognised once again, this time in India.

R.AGE became the first Malaysian media team to receive the KC Kulish International Award for Excellence in Print Journalism at a ceremony here at the Taj Mahal Hotel last week.

Gulab Kothari, editor-in-chief of Rajasthan Patrika, called on journalists to continue reporting boldly.

“With their reporting, these young journalists shed light on a very problematic issue of our time,” said Kothari of the R.AGE team.

“We are in dire need of this type of reporting. Journalists need to be braver more than ever now.”

The annual award was launched in 2007 and named after Karpoor Chandra Kulish, the founder and former editor of Rajasthan Patrika, a leading Hindi language paper in India.

R.AGE was awarded the 2017 Award for Excellence for its work on the Student/Trafficked docu­mentary series, which exposed an international human traffic­king syndicate using Malaysian colleges as a front.

The journalists ran undercover investigations for over a year before revealing their findings in a three-part documentary series on YouTube (youtube.com/rageon linetv) and Facebook (facebook.com/thestarrage).

“We have soldiers who protect our borders. Journalists protect the public by reporting,” added Kothari.

“This is why we have this award – to appreciate the soldiers in plainclothes, our brave journalists who go beyond the call of duty to inform the public.”

The award comes with prize money of US$11,000 (RM45,500) and a trophy.

R.AGE was also given a Merit Award for its 2016 project Predator In My Phone, another undercover investigation which exposed widespread online child sexual crimes in Malaysia.

The 2016 Award for Excellence was given to Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for his work exposing a Chinese sex trafficking syndicate in Ghana.

“We hope that the works of these journalists will inspire the young ones, the future generations, to go into the field,” said Indian Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, the guest of honour at the award ceremony.

The award comes two months after R.AGE won its second consecutive Kajai Award, Malaysia’s top honour for journalism.

To find out more about R.AGE’s work, go to facebook.com/thestar RAGE