Daijiworld Media Network-Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Sep 28: The chairman of Prasar Bharathi, New Delhi, Dr A Surya Prakash delivered an endowment lecture in memory of M V Kamath on Thursday, September 28 at School of Communication auditorium, Manipal.

Addressing the gathering, he said, “Democracy is all about diversity. If there is no diversity, democracy has no meaning. Various castes and cultures add to the beauty of India’s diversity.”

“Earlier the field of journalism was very tough. Journalists had substance in reporting which paved a path to nation building. It was very tough to survive in the same media. Only 5% of people read the news paper in the country then.”

Recollecting his memory, he said, “Earlier journalists were fearless but during emergency it was a critical period for all journalists. A journalist should have a passion for doing good causes. Agitation must be there for public causes. One should agitate and search of information to fix problems of society. The news paper circulation has increased twelve times more now because of developing economy.”

“According to the survey report of Press in India, there are 1,10,851 total registered publications in the nation; 44,557 are Hindi publications, 14,083 are English publications and 4,885 are Kannada publications.”

“The total circulation of newspapers and periodicals was 53.10 million in 1990, 130 million in1999, 150 million in 2005, 510 million in 2015 and 610 million in 2016. The total circulation of daily newspapers was 22.60 million in 1990, 58.80 million in 1999, 78.70 million in 2008, 296.30 million in 2015 and 371.14 million in 2016.”

“As many as 829 million of people use internet today which will definitely increase by 2021. So it is important that old media houses must get ready to adapt to new media and their consumers.”

“Regarding social media, the highest numbers of people are active in Facebook which is 2047 million, youtube has 1500 million users, whatsapp has 1200 million users, Wechat has 938 million and Instagram has 700 million users.”

Speaking further about the role of media houses, Surya Prakash said, “Media must be seen as a joint venture partnering in the world’s biggest democracy. There is an urgent need to review the expunction rules and rules related to privileged in the two houses of parliament and the legislatures.”

“Current rules are discriminatory in the era of live television coverage and social media. They are often archaic. India has crossed 300 million smartphone users in 2016. According to social media survey, nearly 34,317, 796 people are following Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely.”

“New media need to embrace the self-regulatory mechanism of mainstream media though having Press Council of India. Bigwigs in the industry must come together to draft a Content Code for digital media. The regulatory body for new media must be headed by a retired SC judge. There should be control on issues of privacy, defamation and national interest.”

“Telecast and broadcasting media aim to uphold unity and integrity of the nation. It should safeguard the rights of citizens and inform on all matters of public interest. A journalist should present a balanced and fair approach to reporting. Media should address all languages, cultures and religions of nation equally.”

“Whatapp is a major distraction for the youngsters, workers and college going students. They should develop passion towards reading books and literature for four hours a day,” he said.

Regarding the abusive language in social media, he said, “The abusive language in social media amounts to crime. So people should be careful of their language while commenting or re-tweeting in social media. It is better to keep away from such use of social media.”

Speaking about emergency period in 1975, Prakash said, “Emergency declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 was a dark period for media. We experienced dictatorship in democratic nation then. The current generation should read and be aware of critical situation during emergency to realize the value of journalism.”

Nandini Lakshmikantha, director of SOC welcomed the gathering. Padmarani, joint director of SOC introduced the guest. Harish, a non-teaching staff who retires on September 30 was felicitated on the occasion.

Narayan Sabhahit, registrar, Manipal University was present.