New Delhi   

Round table on media’s responsibility

NEW DELHI: Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti organised a colloquium on “Media and social responsibility” at its Tees January Marg premises here on Thursday.

A special issue of the children’s newspaper The Yamuna was released by Samiti director Savita Singh, Bollywood actor Farooq Sheikh, media personality Bhaskar Ghose and Congress leader Ved Prakash along with child reporters from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

The new issue carries a study by child reporters from seven cities of the country on “Media and its social responsibilities”.

Advocating the use of the Gandhian approach of protest to get more space in the media, UNICEF Communication Officer in Lucknow Augustine Veliath said children should be encouraged to discuss what they watch on television, films and radio among themselves, with their teachers and parents: “Teachers should have the knowledge and competency to critically view, understand and discuss media. This new culture of child reporters should become universal.”

Speaking on the occasion, actor Farooq Sheikh said: “Instead of taking lessons from Gandhi’s life, we have reduced him to two functions – January 30 and October 2 -- and then we forget him. His way of life was an influence on the entire country. Can any politician or film personality say that his way of life has influenced the country?”

Informing that the survey was conducted in Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Solan, Belgaum, Bikaner and Koraput, The Yamuna editor Rijuta Lamba said since the sample size varied from 130 to 150 per place, there was not much homogeneity in the responses.

“Most of them preferred watching educational programmes rather than soap operas. In Hyderabad, most of the children said they like to watch Quran TV. This was a welcome observation in the present situation of multi-cultural influences. It showed that the children wished to preserve and promote their culture,” she said.

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