'Journalists should not accept awards from govts they critique': P Sainath declines AP government award https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/maharashtra-bjp-mp-gopal-shetty-compares-farmers-suicide-to-fashion-trend-sparks-row-309345-2016-02-18 08 Jul, 2021
Explaining why in a series of tweets, Sainath said that journalists should not accept awards from governments they cover or critique as they are "external auditors to the government". Sainath told Newslaundry that his declining of the award should not be perceived as a comment against any specific government. “It is a personally evolved professional principle and I do not impose it on others,” he said. “I am not saying that everyone who accepts a government award will sing to its tune, but there is a certain ethical framework of protocol that I want to keep for myself.”
Sainath refuses Padma Shri https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/sainath-refuses-padma-shri/story-2alQHsika2dtlQdROnfjWN.html Jan 30, 2009
Eminent journalist P Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor, The Hind, reportedly declined to be listed for a Padma award this year. In his journalistic career of 28 years, Sainath, who has received over 35 awards and fellowships, both national and international, including the ‘Asian Nobel’, the Magsaysay Award, in 2007, has noticeably not accepted a single government or state award.