Ravish Kumar Wins the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019

New Delhi, August 2, 2019:

Indian journalist Ravish Kumar has been awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019 for “harnessing journalism to give voice to the voiceless”.

Ravish Kumar is among the five individuals to win the 2019 Magsaysay award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel.

The other winners of the award include Ko Swe Win, also a journalistof Myanmar; Angkhana Neelapajit, human rights activist of Thailand; Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab, musician of Philippines; and Kim Jong-Ki, an activist working with violence and mental health issues in youthb of South Korea.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Manila on September 9, 2019.

The citation describes Ravish Kumar as a sober, incisive and well-informed anchor who has been most vocal on insisting that the professional values of balanced, fact-based reporting be upheld in practice. "If you have become the voice of the people, you are a journalist," it says.

The official website of Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said, “In electing Ravish Kumar to receive the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his unfaltering commitment to a professional, ethical journalism of the highest standards; his moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence; and his principled belief that it is in giving full and respectful voice to the voiceless, in speaking truth bravely yet soberly to power, that journalism fulfills its noblest aims to advance democracy.”

“Striving for a people-based journalism, he calls his newsroom 'the people's newsroom'. He is most vocal on insisting that the professional values of sober, balanced, fact-based reporting be upheld in practice,” it says.

Ravish Kumar, has been with NDTV since 1996, and is currently the senior executive editor has often faced threats for his fearless plain-speak.

Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest honour that has been established in 1957.

It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine president after whom the award is named, and is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service and transformative influence that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.

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