22 JANUARY 1972, Page 5

Nothing for the populars

The awards were deserved, hut dullish. The Financial Times received an award for its Arts page, the Sunday Times for its investigative reporting, Bernard Levin was the columnist of the year and the Guardian was the newspaper of the year. A special Gerald Barry' award went to Anthony Mascarenhas, the Pakistan journalist who bravely wrote of the Pakistan army massacres in what was then East Pakistan. The popular press ,got nothing, probably rightly, although I' think the Mail's John Edwards is the best popular reporter now reporting.