A recipient of several awards and honors in recognition of his excellence in journalism in service of the common good and for investigative work that uncovered serious flaws in governance and civic affairs, his investigation of the PM Indira Gandhi assassination case was acknowledged by India’s top judicial body, the Supreme Court. In 2012, Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) recognized his commitment to promote free exchange of accurate and balanced news by publishing an investigative series into the loot of the public transport system in Punjab by politicians. He was awarded the IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Prabhjot Paul Singh, better known as Prabhjot Singh, is an award-winning journalist recognized for his investigative and sports journalism, politics, civic, diaspora, environment and business reporting and feature writing. He has rich and varied experience working in all media streams – print, electronic and social media. Currently, he is a media consultant based in Toronto/Chandigarh.
He comes from the industrial town of Ludhiana, also known as the Manchester of Punjab, and had his primary, secondary and higher education from some of the prestigious institutions, including SCD Government College and Punjab Agricultural University. Belonging to a big and modest family, he was the first one in the family to opt for a career in journalism after his hopes of getting into a medical college were impacted by the hard times the family was going through.
He did his M.Sc. in Journalism from PAU, Ludhiana; MA (English) and BSc (Medical) from Panjab University, Chandigarh; and Bachelor of Journalism from Punjabi University, Patiala. He was a meritorious student and winner of the National Merit Scholarship in the matriculation examination, besides being a first divisioner in most of his post-secondary professional courses.
He is a man with a solid ethical core, integrity, strong communication skills, a courageous attitude and an analytic mind with knowledge of English, Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi.
In fact, he had been a pioneer in introducing the concept of a sports page in Jalandhar (vernacular) newspapers in February 1975, months before he was offered a job as a sports reporter by The Tribune group of newspapers. Early in his career, he wrote for Sport Star, Sports Week, Sports World, Sport Cine and other leading sports publications besides doing a regular programme in Yuv Vani on All-India Radio.
As a self-directed journalist, he always highlighted issues of public interest and introduced several popular columns like Citizens and Public Offices, Inside Babudom and Other Side of City Beautiful, besides focusing on subjects like corruption in public places, health care, education and basic civic infrastructure.
His passion for sports is evident from his travels to 10 Summer Olympic Games; one Winter Olympic Games; 10 World Cups in hockey; FIFA World Cups in 2006 and 2026, besides four World Cups in cricket; and three editions of Pan Am Games (Toronto, Lima and Santiago). He has also covered the Asian Games (New Delhi and Jakarta) and Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and New Delhi. Also, he has been to many other important international events and done memorable stories of human interest.
He was also the founding editor of Chandigarh Tribune, the first city pull-out by The Tribune group of newspapers.
His hard and trying journey in journalism has been through many ups and downs. He has been a witness to turmoil in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and the North East, besides covering some of the major political assassinations in India, including that of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
An ardent follower of professional ethics, he refused to compromise even in the face of threats to his life. He was one of the first few journalists who was mercilessly beaten by a mob of religious fanatics in Patiala during the early phases of terrorism in Punjab. That did not deter him from reporting some of the gruesome incidents of terrorist violence throughout North India and elsewhere. He was handpicked to cover the Chittisinghpora killings and the Kargil war.
His spectrum of journalism varied so much that he reported on almost every subject a newspaper could think of. He always prided himself on taking up causes of a common man and was popularly known as a “citizen journalist”.
He has been the winner of three National Newspaper Awards and two fellowships by media houses, including the KK Birla Foundation of the Hindustan Times.
He did his M.Sc. in Journalism from PAU, Ludhiana; MA (English) and BSc (Medical) from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Bachelor of Journalism from Punjabi University, Patiala.
He was also the founding editor of Chandigarh Tribune, the first city pull-out by The Tribune group of newspapers.
After 40 years in print journalism, he took to audio-visual media and headed PTC News, one of the world’s largest Punjabi news channels, for eight years.
He follows Canadian politics religiously and has been in the process of completing his book on the Golden Jubilee of Indo-Canadians in Federal Politics. His book on the “Inside Story of Indian Hockey” is also nearing completion.
He interviewed many top politicians, including Prime Ministers Mr Chandrasekhar, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and Mr Stephen Harper, besides top bureaucrats, technocrats, players, sports officials and others on important issues like terrorism, environmental degradation, clean energy, doping, unemployment, drugs and human smuggling.
International education has been another subject on which he worked regularly, highlighting issues and problems facing international students.
In 2012, Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) recognized his commitment to promote free exchange of accurate and balanced news by publishing an investigative series into the loot of the public transport system in Punjab by politicians. He was awarded the IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism.
He is also a recipient of several awards and honors in recognition of his excellence in journalism in service of the common good and for investigative work that uncovered serious flaws in governance and civic affairs. His investigation of the PM Indira Gandhi assassination case was acknowledged by India’s top judicial body, the Supreme Court.
The Sunday magazine section of The Tribune from Chandigarh dated 25 November 1984 carried an article titled “Profile of an assassin”, which is one of the most recognized works. It was the story of the assassination of the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi.
Though he has been taking up issues of common man interest throughout his professional life, his efforts to make Chandigarh (IXC) an international airport will be long remembered as a blessing for the Punjabi diaspora.
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