Contemporary India Lecture Series
December 6, 2007

Roundtable: "Media and Democracy in India"

Aziz Haniffa , Managing Editor, "India Abroad”
http://www.saja.org/haniffa.html
KP Nayar, Chief Diplomatic Editor and Correspondent for the Americas, "The Telegraph"
www.telegraphindia.com

 

Aziz Haniffa is the Managing Editor and Chief Diplomatic and Political Correspondent of India Abroad—the oldest and largest circulating South Asian newspaper in North America—which is owned and published by rediff.com (Nasdaq:REDF)—India’s largest news portal. He has been covering US-South Asia relations and the Indian American community, based in Washington for over 22 years since joining India Abroad, and over the years has scored many scoops and done innumerable  exclusives, including interviews with presidents, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, and US and South Asian lawmakers. In September and October 2004, he was the first only South Asian journalist to have done back-to-back exclusive interviews with both President George W.Bush and Democratic presidential challenger Senator John F. Kerry, on the eve of the 2004 presidential election. Aziz was also the only South Asian print journalist who was part of the White House press delegation that accompanied former president Bill Clinton to the subcontinent in March 2000. A native of Sri Lanka, he has a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in English and Economics and a master’s degree in political science and international affairs from George Washington University.

Aziz is a regular South Asia analyst on CNN International  and has appeared regularly on other CNN programs including Q & A, Insight, World Report, and also on MSNBC and C-Span. He is also a regular media panelist on the National Defense University’s NESA (Near East and South Asia ) Center in Washington,D.C.,that throughout the year hosts senior military officers and officials of the foreign and defense ministries from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries in Washington for four-to-eight week periods to interact with their colleagues in the US as well as policymakers and media based in the US. Aziz has traveled extensively in South Asia, Middle East, North, East and South Africa, Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

 

K.P. Nayar , Chief Diplomatic Editor and Correspondent for the Americas of "THE TELEGRAPH", based in Washington DC since the beginning of 2000. "THE TELEGRAPH" is India's fourth largest-selling English newspaper with a paid daily circulation of about half a million copies. Headquartered in Calcutta, it is part of Eastern India's biggest publishing house with several dailies and magazines in English and Bengali. The company also owns Star News India, a leading TV channel, in partnership with the global media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.

Prior to his current position with, “The Telegraph” K.P. Nayar was the Diplomatic Editor of the “India Express” and “The Economic Times.” K.P. held visiting fellow appointments at Oxford University from 1986-1987 and The Henry L Stimson Center, Washington DC in 1996.

 

 

 

 

 

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