Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Expressing concern over the future of media and journalism and the sanctity of news in the face of disruptive technological advances, Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on December 18, 2020, urged all the stakeholders to ensure credible journalism since media is an effective tool of empowerment of people for informed public discourse.
Naidu spoke at length on “Journalism: Past, Present and Future’’ while delivering the M V Kamat Memorial Endowment Lecture in virtual mode from Hyderabad on December 18, 2020.
The Vice President listed the concerns about media and journalism as issues relating to; Freedom of press, censorship, flouting of norms of reporting, social responsibility of journalists, decline in the values and ethics of journalism, yellow journalism, journalism of false crusades, reporting for profit, disinformation in the form of fake and paid news, disruptions caused by the Internet and the future of media amidst these concerns and challenges.
Naidu said; “Yellow journalism seeks to cloud the facts by resorting to eye-catching headlines and promotes distortion and misinformation. Journalism based on taking up false crusades as witnessed in the case of suicide of a film actor recently, is a fellow traveler. Both are aimed at increasing readership and viewership and should be avoided.”
The Vice President voiced concern over the implications of the growing ‘instant journalism’ triggered by the emergence of Internet and social media expansion in the form of propagation of fake news and erosion of journalistic norms and ethos.
Naidu stated that “The information and reports generated by the print media at substantial cost is being hijacked by the social media giants. This is unfair. Some countries are taking measures to ensure revenue sharing by the social media giants with the print media. We too need to take a serious look at this problem and come out with appropriate revenue sharing models for the survival of traditional media.”
Referring to the newspapers as the dominant modes of information dissemination and empowerment of people since the 18th century and after the emergence of radio and television in the 20th century, Naidu said that even during the present era of Internet, “There are millions still who like to wake up with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. I shall admit that I am one among them but without coffee.”
Welcoming the democratisation and decentralisation of sharing of information and views enabled by rapid expansion of social media, Naidu expressed concern over the downsides of it in the form of news getting devalued amidst information saturation and over abundance of news. He said; “ Freedom of expression doesn’t mean unfettered outburst of anger and hate against each other that may lead to chaos. Media should use a standard set of reporting and analytical tools that capture the change without imposing respective positions”
Naidu urged the media to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem since like every citizen, government and other stakeholders, media too have a certain responsibility towards the nation. Referring to the crisis situation being faced by the media and journalism for various reasons and uncertain future amidst disruptive changes, Naidu stressed that an ‘auto-correction’ in needed and in fact, inevitable for a better future.
The Vice President urged the media persons to keep news and views strictly separate without allowing each of them masquerading as the other. He also stressed the need to stem the decline in journalistic values and ethos.