There is a palpable sense of shock among media folk that the 2011 Republic Day honours’ list contains no “working journalists” i.e. those still burning the phone lines and greasing the totempole in anticipation of the big day.
There are no awardees from the exalted world of television, with the honours going to old-world print veterans: the country’s first woman news photographer Homai Vyarawala and the editor-author-columnist T.J.S. George.
Worse, neither of the two awardees are residents of Lutyen’s Delhi or, horror, of the national capital region (NCR): Vyarawala is based in Baroda and George is in Bangalore.
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From The Telegraph:
“Only one mediaperson, veteran T.J.S. George, made the cut to a Padma Bhushan despite the buzz that nearly a dozen were long-listed. Sources said the government was cautious about this category because at least a couple of former awardees figured in the Niira Radia tapes.”
From The Indian Express:
“The most conspicuous omission from the list are mediapersons. For the first time in several years, not a single journalist has been picked for any of the Padma Awards. It is not clear whether the decision was influenced by the controversy surrounding the Niira Radia tapes in which some prominent mediapersons have been revealed in bad light.”
Also read: Aditya Sinha on the “worldview” of Delhi journalists
IJR 
Journalists should not accept awards from the government. Because the main task of a journalist is to expose the rich and the powerful, which is the government and their cronies.
The moment a journalist gets awarded by the government, his credibility takes a hit. Because our leaders are not charitable individuals, they would never reward someone unless that person is prepared to support them blindly in their agenda.
SAY NO TO SARKARI AWARDS – MY ADVISE TO ALL JOURNALISTS (A corrupt sarkar can only give out “corrupt awards”)
I too noticed that friends of corrupt politicians left out.
politicians also left out of the list..
Any farmer got Padma award in last decade?