Vice Prez urges media to become solution and not a problem

Solution World Bureau

Hyderabad, Dec 18: ​Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has urged the media to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem since like every citizen, government and other stakeholders, media too have a certain responsibility towards the nation. Here we want to inform our readers that Solution World (solutionworld.news) is one of the premier news websites of India enaged in Solution Journalism.

Naidu asserted this while referring to the ability of media to shape right public perceptions and perspectives. “In the times of ‘instant journalism’, the line between ‘news’ and ‘fake news’ has become very blurred and is a matter of serious concern,” a tweet from the Vice President’s Offfice said.

Expressing concern over the future of media and journalism and the sanctity of news in the face of disruptive technological advances, the Vice President urged all the stakeholders to ensure credible journalism since media is an effective tool of empowerment of people for informed public discourse.

Naidu spoke at length on “Journalism: Past, Present and Future’’ while delivering the M.V. Kamat Memorial Endowment Lecture in virtual mode from Hyderabad today.

The Vice President listed the concerns about media and journalism as issues relating to; Freedom of press, censorship, flouting of norms of reporting, social responsibility of journalists, decline in the values and ethics of journalism, yellow journalism, journalism of false crusades, reporting for profit, disinformation in the form of fake and paid news, disruptions caused by the Internet and the future of media amidst these concerns and challenges.

Naidu said; “Yellow journalism seeks to cloud the facts by resorting to eye-catching headlines and promotes distortion and misinformation. Journalism based on taking up false crusades as witnessed in the case of suicide of a film actor recently, is a fellow traveler. Both are aimed at increasing readership and viewership and should be avoided.”

He voiced concern over the implications of the growing ‘instant journalism’ triggered by the emergence of Internet and social media expansion in the form of propagation of fake news and erosion of journalistic norms and ethos. He further noted that technology giants have emerged as algorithmic gatekeepers of information and the web emerging as the main distributor of news.

“The information and reports generated by the print media at substantial cost is being hijacked by the social media giants. This is unfair. Some countries are taking measures to ensure revenue sharing by the social media giants with the print media. We too need to take a serious look at this problem and come out with appropriate revenue sharing models for the survival of traditional media,” he stated.

Welcoming the democratisation and decentralisation of sharing of information and views enabled by rapid expansion of social media, Naidu expressed concern over the downsides of it in the form of news getting devalued amidst information saturation and over abundance of news. He said; “There is a certain need to ensure sanity in the use of rapidly expanding social media outlets given the implications for social harmony​,​ ​common good, peace, and national security. Freedom of expression doesn’t mean unfettered outburst of anger and hate against each other that may lead to chaos.”

Referring to the crisis situation being faced by the media and journalism for various reasons and uncertain future amidst disruptive changes, Naidu stressed that an ‘auto-correction’ in needed and in fact, inevitable for a better future. He suggested enabling guidelines and regulations for restoring order while expressing himself against any restrictive regulations.

The Vice President urged the media persons to keep news and views strictly separate without allowing each of them masquerading as the other. He also stressed the need to stem the decline in journalistic values and ethos. He recalled that late M.V. Kamat although maintained this distinction between news and views. Paying rich tributes to the multifarious contributions of the veteran journalist, Naidu said that late Kamat became iconic through his principles and practices during his long career and earned respect both within and outside the country.

Pro Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Dr. H.S. Bhallal, Vice Chancellor Lt. General M.D. Venkatesh, Director of Manipal Institute of Communication Dr. Padma Rani and members of administrative and academic departments were among those who attended the event.