“Media needs to grow beyond urban centres and move to more rural places and places less known,” said Pradyot Bikram Deb Baraman, King of the Royal house of Tripura and the Editor of North East Times. He was addressing the students at the seminar on ‘The responsibility of media in an emerging India’.
Speaking about the situation in the media today, Mr Deb Barman spoke about how the vision had narrowed down, and how stereotypes had dominated our perception of the world. “North East is always viewed as this one block rather than the eight different states that constitute the north east region of the country,” he added. Pointing to the ignorance of people in respectable positions in media houses, he said, “A person from a big media house actually asked me if the capital of Nagaland is Sikkim.”
Suggesting reforms in the media, he emphasised the need for the media to have a more mature approach to issues. “Media today sells news rather than disseminate news to the public,” said Mr Deb Barman. He also added that people needed to be fearless even if it meant voicing an opinion against institutions like the army, because it was the right the people.
“A tree cannot become big if the roots are not strong,” he said, talking about the importance of having sound ethics and a good balance in reporting issues in the media. He further added that news needs to be based on facts devoid of personal emotions and one should not attack individuals.
Answering a query from a student as to why India was obsessed about Pakistan and not the Chinese threat, he said, “India has always been on the defensive with regard to China. Instead of bettering the life of its citizens by providing better infrastructure, they are concentrating more on limiting further insurgency in the country.” He further added, “The way India is approaching the issue of Chinese intrusion shows a complete lack of faith in its own population.”
- Sneha Shyam and Rahiba Parveen, I M S Com
No comments:
Post a Comment