The ICIJ said in a statement on 22 March 2023 that Sarin, executive editor (news and investigations), had been a key contributor to many of its impactful investigations, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers, the Pandora Papers, and the Deforestation Inc. investigation.
“As a long-term ICIJ member and one of Asia’s most respected investigative journalists, she will bring deep experience and wisdom to the board,” the chair of the ICIJ board, Rhona Murphy, said.
“She is fiercely brave. Her team takes on the most powerful people in India without ever flinching,” ICIJ managing editor Fergus Shiel said.
“I am privileged to be joining the very eminent board of the ICIJ and to represent Asia’s growing investigative reporting prowess on its platforms,” The Indian Express quoted Sarin as saying.
Sarin has been recognized with many awards, including the International Press Institute award for excellence in journalism and the 2007 Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year. Sarin is the co-author of The Panama Papers: The Untold India Story of the Trailblazing Global Offshore Investigation.
She replaces Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab Wilhelm, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Mexican journalist and ICIJ member who has served on the board since 2018.
Sarin joins Murphy, secretary Alexander Papachristou, treasurer Birgit Rieck, and members Tom Steinberg, Dapo Olorunyomi, and Tony Norman on the board.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
