The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : EMS hailed as a creative exponent of the media

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EMS hailed as a creative exponent of the media

Special Correspondent

‘His writings are always a guiding force for Left movement’

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Tributes to EMS: Education Minister M.A. Baby flanked by Sashi Kumar, Director, Media Development Foundation (left), and W.R. Varadarajan, CPI(M) central committee member, at the birth centenary celebrations of E.M.S. Namboodiripad organised by the Madras Kerala Samaj in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Communist ideologue E.M.S. Namboodiripad was a creative exponent of the media whose writings were always an important guiding force for the Left movement in Kerala and India, Kerala Education Minister M.A. Baby said on Sunday.

Inaugurating a media seminar to commemorate the birth centenary of E.M.S. Namboodiripad under the auspices of the Madras Kerala Samaj, Mr. Baby noted that the erudite Namboodiripad began writing in newspapers since his young age and became a prolific writer in his lifetime. “Remarkably, when he died, the Deshabhimani edition had a prominent obituary on its front page and an article by E.M.S. inside,” he said.

According to Mr. Baby, Namboodiripad’s lifelong commitment to fight social injustice and his austerity in personal life were exemplary values for others. The relevance of his political ideals is not confined to a country but to the four corners of the world, he said.

Sashi Kumar, chairman, Media Development Foundation, called for a media reform movement to make news media more accountable to the people instead of pandering to market forces. The alliance of Left parties had a key role to play in the movement, he said.

Terming the market and not the State the worst enemy of the news media, Mr. Sashi Kumar said the bulk of the media indulged in trivia and tabloidisation. “The media is at the crossroads and should introspect whether it is fulfilling its public good mandate and providing information that empowers the people and makes a difference to their lives,” he said.

Recounting his association with Namboodiripad, W.R. Varadarajan, CPI(M) central committee member, said E.M.S. Namboodiripad had an art of confronting loaded questions posed by mediapersons.

N. Madhavan Kutty, former journalist; K.A. Johny, Chennai bureau chief Mathrubhumi; M.K.A. Azeez and Kumbalangad Unnikrishnan, samaj office-bearers, also spoke.

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