“Deepika group should not have launched campaign against Achuthanandan”

"Journalists should be beyond communal, caste feelings"

“Of course, this is my personal view and not the one of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),” Mr. Sudhakaran said at a seminar on “Social Mission of Media Interventions.”

The seminar, attended by politicians and media personalities, was organised by the Kerala State Sunni Students Federation as part of its arts and literature festival.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the Chief Minister was a great people’s leader and he could have ignored Mr. Pharis. (Mr. Achuthanandan last week referred to Mr. Pharis as “the hated man.”)

The Minister, while emphasising that nothing could replace the media in a State like Kerala, regretted that news was being increasingly twisted and misinterpreted. There was an alarming rise in the tendency to abuse the media power. “There is hardly any politician in Kerala who has not been the victim of media abuse.”

Each media organisation had its own politics, agenda and whipping boys and blue-eyed boys, he said. The financial dealings of many were not transparent, though they pretended to be fighting against corruption. In his view, some journalists were becoming part of a “media mafia.”

Mr. Sudhakaran said journalists should be beyond communal and caste feelings. They should be balanced and without bias. They should take care not to lower the dignity of the individuals they reported on. Exaggeration and generalisation were becoming hallmarks of the media.

V.D. Satheesan, MLA, said the media mostly debated non-issues even as serious problems facing the people cried out for attention.

N. Ali Abdulla, secretary, Sunni Yuvajana Sangham, alleged that the media was dishing out totally unnecessary and silly news to readers.

Sebastian Paul, MP, and media analyst P. Rajan were among others who spoke.

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