New Delhi (CBCI News): A two-day national convention on Media and People’s Outrage was jointly organised by the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA), National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Training (NISCORT) and Media Faculties Network (MFN) at Don Bosco Centre, here, March 1- 3.
Inaugurating the convention Archbishop Anil Thomas J. Couto, of Delhi told participants to guard against those who distort news to suit their views when reporting. Congratulating the ICPA as it enters the Golden Jubilee year, he said the Church should not remain silent but should take up issues not only those pertaining to it but also those affecting the society at large.
Church communicators, he said, has a serious responsibility to promote truth and integrity in the media. They must be alert against attempts to distort or misrepresent the views of the Church on social and moral issues.
Director, Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC), New Delhi Prof Sunit Tandon in his keynote talk said people’s response and involvement with the media has widened today with the advent of social media. Media expansion is for good for everyone, he said.
Dr. George Plathottam, Director, NISCORT, called for a more rigorous training in media ethics for those who wish to enter the profession. He called for introducing ‘info-ethics’ in media training. He outlined the role of the media faculties’ network as a joint platform to foster greater professionalism and networking among students and staff of media training institutions in the country. He said “Communication deals not so with what you do, but with what you are.”
Over 120 journalists, including students of journalism from colleges across the country, participated in the two-day convention. The Convention dwelt at length on current issues like sting operations, paid news, gender violence, corruption, people’s movements, etc. and was addressed by senior journalists like Pranjoy Guha Thakurta, Seema Mustafa, Anil Chamadia, AJ Philip, John Dayal, Dominic Emmanuel and Anto Akkara.
John Dayal, journalist and human rights activist, spoke of how media is manipulated by the politicians. He said that media people’s outrage are often manufactured by the media.
Speaking on the topic “Sting Operations and Paid News”, Paranjoy Guha Thakurtha, noted media critic and academic, said “institutionalized corruption” was eroding the independence of the media without which the fundamental right of freedom of expression is meaningless.
Noting that media houses are selling newspace to politicians and corporates, he said the most pernicious form of corruption was paid news in the political sphere.
Thakurtha, who served as member of the Press Council of India’s investigative team, said that many journalists had complained that some print and electronic media were providing news space and even editorials to politicians and electoral candidates for money.
However, he could do little as the Press Council of India (PCI) is a “toothless tiger”, he said.He cited instances where identical articles were published in several dailies trumpeting “achievements” of a certain politician in Maharashtra before the recent elections. However, he said on the positive side was the disqualification of Umlesh Yadav from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the bar on her contesting elections for the next three years by the Election Commission of India for indulging in paid news and concealing the fact.
Fr Dominic Emmanuel, spokesperson of Delhi Archdiocese, further elaborated on the issue. He pointed out the danger of paid news as a serious threat to the profession as well as to society at large.
Anto Akkara, a journalist who has penned books on Kandhamal violence and its aftermath, deplored the “market influence” on news coverage. He lamented that “the media only focuses on things that sell.” Speaking on the issue of Gender Violence and People’s Outrage Seema Mustafa, said “we live in a very violent society”. A society where caste carnage and violence against women and dalits were rampant. She said the “silent gender-based violence was getting more vocal now”.
She referred to the “street conscience” in regard with the brutal rape and murder of a young medico in the capital last December. She said the public outrage was sparked by the fact that the rape was very brutal.
The former war correspondent decried the fact that very little investigation is carried out into crime reports these days. Mustafa said as a crime reporter in the 80’s she had visited a remote village to get details of a rape and murder despite being advised against it. That was the only way to get to the core of the matter, she said.Today, Mustafa said, reporters just get their information over the phone.
Senior journalists Anil Chamadia, A J Philip and Augustine Veliath spoke on Corruption and People’s Movements. Philip said people should begin honesty at home and avoid bribe giving even if it involved inconvenience or loss of money. ‘Corruption, he said, begins at home, hence it has to be tackled where it begins.’ Chamadia highlighted how the news dailies have multiplied over a period and how media houses had made huge profits over the years. He said those in power exercise control over mass media.
Augustine Veliath, a former UNICEF Communications Specialist, said it was time for lamentation as children’s basic rights were being compromised. He spoke of how he got a district collector of Bihar to enable immunization of children of Muslim community. He also spoke of the apathy of the officials where health officials never reported for duty.
Sting Operations & paid news, gender violence, people’s outrage, corruption and people’s Movements.
For any sort of misconduct in the nation there is an outrage of people but sometimes they are only a manufactured outrage. Lucy Gabriel Chottapadhyaya, broadcaster of All India Radio (AIR) and A J Philip spoke on media careers and challenges in the profession.
The seminar provided a platform for students from various media colleges to present their studies, findings and views on the theme. Student delegates from seven colleges participated in the event.
(Press Release, NISCORT)