The Press Council of India had decided that on the National Press Day, we would deliberate on ‘The changing face of Indian media’. The District Journalist’s Association, or the Zila Patarkar Parishad, Panchkula, had invited me to speak on this very topic on Sunday.
It’s always daunting to speak to one’s colleagues, and it became more so when I found that I was the only one who addressed them in English—the rest of the proceedings were largely in Hindi, where I have limitations, especially in speaking formally. The audience was multilingual and this proved no impediment.
The Tribune’s Chandigarh edition had a rather extensive report on the event. Please click here to read it.
Indeed, there has been a complete change in the role played by the media. But as elsewhere, there are both negative and positive aspects attached to it. On the one hand, where media helps to provide more exposure to the problems that the public faces, while on the other hand the commercialisation of media has led to the deterioration of the ethical standards. So a limit needs to be there…after all, excess of everything is bad.
But to make the things seem brighter…I must be the change myself…because the media portrays the demands of the public.