Panaji, March 10 (TNN): Chief minister Manohar Parrikar has appealed to journalists to stop publishing articles that create a sense of disgust among the public against the political system.
Stating that the political system was the 'central pillar of the circus', he said, "The media should not create disgust among people, against politicians and the system. It is okay to create anger against corrupt politicians, but if the public becomes disgusted and disillusioned with the political system itself, India will turn into Egypt," he said.
Parrikar was speaking at a seminar on 'Conscientious Reporting' organized by the Goa union of journalists(GUJ) in Panaji on Sunday.
He also remarked that the media's critical coverage of politics was bound to discourage 'good people' from joining politics. "Given a second chance, I will not enter politics. I am a very good engineer, and could have minted money in another profession. It was under compulsion that I was pushed into this line," he claimed.
The seminar comes hardly a week after the GUJ slammed Parrikar for his disparaging comments against Goan media persons, wherein he said that journalists were not great thinkers or intellectuals, and accused them of biased reporting. They seem to have made up since then, after Parrikar reportedly expressed regret over his off-the-cuff comments. Parrikar chose to re-iterate his stand, albeit in a more diplomatic way. "The understanding capacity of reporters and quality of reportage is coming down. Journalists are reporting matters that they only understand in a physical sense," he said cryptically, requesting news organizations to ensure that 'The truth is not sacrificed at the altar of breaking news'.
Several other speakers, including veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar and former Newsweek UN bureau chief Patricia J Pereira Sethi, spoke on issues like the corporatization of media organizations, paid news and opinionated reportage.
Leading criminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikam called for media organizations to have self-regulatory measures.