Karnataka - Shimoga   

Media told to introspect role

Special Correspondent

Globalisation has hit small and medium newspapers in districts hard

SHIMOGA: T.P. Ramesh, journalist, said on Saturday that it was time the media introspected its role in the changed circumstances. He said media had to keep the interest of society in mind while purveying the news.

Inaugurating a seminar on "Mass media and social responsibility," organised as part of the 73rd All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, he said that though the freedom of expression had been guaranteed by the Constitution, media should be aware of the fact that the readers too enjoyed equal opportunity to protect their individual freedom.

Mr. Ramesh said that with the advent of globalisation and liberalisation, small and medium newspapers located in districts were hit hard as the State and national level newspapers were competing with them.

Editor of Andolana of Mysore Rajshekhar Koti said though the big medium and small newspapers enjoyed their own status, the area covered by them was more or less the same as their main aim was to respond positively to the hopes and aspirations of people.

He said that though the revolutionary changes in news gathering and printing helped local newspapers in districts, they found themselves in a spot as big and medium newspapers started making forays into their area eating much of their advertisement revenue.

Mr. Koti came down heavily on some of the Stat-level Kannada newspapers, which tried to score over the district papers by resorting to unfair and unethical price war much to the disadvantage of small newspapers.

Gauri Lankesh, journalist, said newspapers were not discharging their social responsibility well. She said that over 12,000 suicides of farmers were reported since 1996 in the State. "But except reporting them as routine crime news, newspapers hardly did anything to analyse the causes that led to the suicides," she said.

Regretting that her honest efforts to understand the causes that led to rise in naxalism in the State prompted many people to brand her as a naxal sympathiser, she said there was a need to study the problems of the naxalites and bring them into the mainstream.

Presiding over the seminar, Commissioner of Information Department K.V. Ravindranath Tagore said it was the responsibility of the mass media to analyse the goings-on and report them in a correct perspective.

Assistant Director of Kannada and Culture N. Harikumar welcomed the gathering.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Minorities are not neglected, says Kumaraswamy
Media told to introspect role
Quality, content in Kannada cinema criticised
Writer urges media to unite people
Withdraw decision on English, State urged
Tight security irks scribes
Elephant kills man near Sirigere

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu