 in response, considering that we are going to be felicitating the best in the news broadcast fraternity. And evenings like these are not possible without the support of our partners. But before I go ahead to acknowledge them, request you all to please put your phones on silent mode as a request to your fellow delegates, fellow participants, fellow winners. We do not want you to switch them off. We want you to talk about what you like, who you think are the winners going to be in your agenda booklet. You've got the shortlisted nominees there. You can have a look and you can tweet about who you think is the most deserving entry for a particular category. We have about 37 categories that we are going to be felicitating tonight. And we have more or less the entire universe as far as national news broadcast channels in English and Hindi are concerned within this room. But like I said, evenings like these are not possible without the support of our partners. And I'd like to formally acknowledge them. NBAR 2015 is powered by ETV News Network, Habar He Jeevan Hai, Associate Partners, Sahara News Network, Co-Partner Governance Now, Business Platform Partner, Business World, Knowledge Partner, Broadcast Audience Research Council India, Live Webcast Partner, 24 Frames Digital. Could we have the partner AV please? A vast and diverse country like India can be better understood in news and happenings only in the ETV way. The only news network in the country with more than 10 channels and with 2,000 reporters spread out from the foothills of the Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir to the back waters of Kerala and from the far off corners of northeast to the Larl Street in Mumbai. Covering every news, big or small, that matters to you. Speed and credibility have been our DNA. All this while keeping you at the center of every news story that's breaking in the country. We are the voice of people. We are ETV News Network, Habar He Jeevan Hai. All right, without much further ado, I'm gonna request the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Exchange for Media Group who has felicitated a platform like Enba to recognize the best in the news broadcast fraternity to be acknowledged and recognized. To please come up on stage and offer a formal welcome address. Back with a loud round of applause, please. We've only gotten started. The claps need to keep going. Good evening. It's my honor and privilege to welcome the leaders of the news broadcasting industry and in some way the conscious keepers of our nation to the eighth edition of the Exchange for Media News broadcast. When Exchange for Media started, the first News Next conference to debate the future of the news industry and the first Exchange for Media News broadcast lots of my friends from the civil society, from government, from bureaucracy, from the enterprise ecosystem said, why are you doing awards for news broadcasting professionals? What good they do to the country? They only carry negative news and they are rabble-rousers and of course we didn't agree with what they had to say. As I said, all of you in the room are the conscious keepers of the nation. You create public opinion, you make sure that the citizen of this country gets justice and you make sure that the wheels of business are oiled with information. We're already running late so I won't bore you with a long speech but I just want to say two things. One, the process of selecting the winners tonight is a jury-led process. We at Exchange for Media, none of my editorial colleagues have any point of view or input into that. We have a very credible jury and you'll see the jury AV. We have a lot of jury members here, very eminent people. So these awards are the most honest, most credible and process-driven awards. I emphasize this that every year when these awards happen I lose five, seven friends, at least temporarily because a lot of my editor, friends, journalists, friends, faces call me and they abuse me. They're my friends so I give them the right to abuse me and I'm not making a point. It is a reality but they know that we do it very honestly and so far now my editorial colleague and consultant really brings that high integrity and champions what we do. Second, I want to say a couple to Nurdu, to all of you. I believe with what you do in the news profession and you do it under very difficult circumstances of being intimidated by business people, by politicians, by bureaucrats, by being left out, by not being given access. So I genuinely believe that all of you really do a great job in very difficult circumstances, especially when the outlay for news is going down as I talked in my inaugural speech at the news next. I want to dedicate a Nurdu Kaplet to you. Manzil uni ko milti hai, jinn ke sapno mein jaan hoti hai. Punk se kuch nahi hota, hostlo se uran hoti hai. Nazro ko badal do, to nazare badal jaate hai. Soch ko badal do, to sitare badal jaate hai. Kishtia badal ne se kuch nahi hota. Disha ko badal do, to kinare badal jaate hai. I think you're providing a direction to the country and to the people of the country. You're moving them in a direction that is positive and builds the nation. With this I welcome you to the eighth edition and look forward to celebrating your achievements tonight. Thank you once again. Thank you so much. That's the first from Anurag that I've heard reading out a Nurdu Kaplet and to continue the moment and the mood. I would like to share another one of my most favorite, I know that's not correct English, but I still would say one of my most favorite Kaplet. It is, is sheher mein jeena ke andaz nirale hai. Is sheher mein jeena ke andaz nirale hai. Hoto pe latife aawaz mein chaale hai. All right and a very warm welcome one more time to the news broadcasting awards. The eighth edition like Anurag mentioned and we started off about four to five months back where we got together the most imminent jury that has actually with very high integrity chosen the winners tonight. And like again I would quote Anurag saying that this has been an extremely independent process and this is exactly how it is. A lot of people get annoyed about not being felicitated and not being acknowledged, but exchange for media, Anurag or me have nothing to do with it. This is extremely an independent and a judicious process that the jury follows. And for you to understand what this whole process is all about, I'd like you to join me in my Coke passenger seat because we've created a little AV to showcase exactly how these awards are put together. Could we have the AV please? Welcome to the eighth edition of Exchange for Media News Broadcasting Awards. These awards were established in 2008 to acknowledge and reward both individuals and organizations for the best of work done that become a showcase property in the news broadcasting industry in India. Awards are being given away for work done between November 2014 and October 2015. The process for these awards began with inviting entries. Let's hear what one of the jury members had to say about this. The jury was really unique because you had people from all aspects of journalism. You had a doin of Indian journalism like N. Ram heading it. So certainly you had Leila Taiapji, again, who was very distinguished in her own right. You had some senior journalist part of it. So we all felt that as a team we really bonded and the fact that the ground rules that were set was that we will agree on a winner when there is complete unanimity. We even had calls with some of the entry and some of the people who could not make it. Then we had some senior editors, the head of channels presenting their arguments, their cases before the jury and jury really thoroughly quizzed them. So I think it was the most exhaustive process that we all had. I really enjoyed it. The entries received were from national and regional news channels broadcasting in either English or Hindi. The judging process involved two levels. First, the pre-jury round in which every jury member went through a certain set of categories and shortlisted the top five entries based on the selection criteria. The second was the physical jury meet where all the shortlisted entries were presented to all the jury members and winners were chosen after careful discussions. The excellence awards too invited careful deliberations and finally, the best were chosen. The channel representatives were given an opportunity to meet the jury board one-on-one and impress upon them. A chance to present their case in their own words for five categories, young professional of the year editorial English and Hindi, the news channel of the year English and Hindi and the BAK India business news channel of the year English and Hindi. It was an opportunity for the young and rising talent of the industry to shine through and for the senior channel representatives to tell us why they are the best. And now, ladies and gentlemen, presenting the jury of the eighth edition of the Exchange for Media News Broadcasting Awards. The jury for the awards was led by Mr. Endram, Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Limited, Publisher and former Editor-in-Chief, the Hindu and Group Newspapers. And it consisted of some of the biggest names in the country, people who are respected, trusted and have in-depth knowledge of news broadcasting. It's clear from this round of judging entries that plenty is happening on the Indian television news broadcasting scene. Of course, it's a very mixed picture. Some of us feel there's too much shouting, too much artificiality and contrivance, but there is also a lot of good coverage happening and I was very impressed. In fact, our jury members were very impressed. There were some remarkable cases of improvement. Efforts made, planned, and improvements won. But there are also many areas where there seems to be complacency. And it was very hard to pick, if you asked the case, who is the best overall, et cetera. It was very hard to do that. Certainly, our jury was hard-worked as I guess juries in previous years were, but I would say, speaking for our jury, they put in a lot of effort and they came from diverse backgrounds with rich experience. We don't go just by ratings. That's an important indicator. And you watch that, how the audience engages, but also quality, professionalism, balance, all the things that go into good journalism. Above all, credibility, trust, and relevance. Apart from being interesting and engaging, the reader, sometimes you have to sale against the current and do what is relevant and important and significant. And I think to judge all this is challenging but also great fun. In about 2015, and the jury board, congratulates all the winners.