The State government will look into what could be done for implementing the Wage Board recommendations for media persons as the Union government has approved it now, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
He was speaking after inaugurating the renovated Ernakulam Press Club building here on Saturday.
The media should remain as the corrective force in society.
At the same time, administrators and authorities should have more tolerance towards media criticism. This mutual interaction is vital for strengthening democracy, he said.
Active part
In his keynote address, K.V. Thomas, Union Minister of State for Food, said that the Ernakulam Press Club, right from its inception, had played an active part in the development projects in the city — be it the establishment of Cochin Port Trust or the International Container Transshipment Terminal at Vallarpadom.
Ernakulam Press Club was the first such establishment in the country and was inaugurated in 1968 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Speaking on the occasion, K. Babu, Minister for Excise and Ports, said that the media should introspect on whether borders of freedom were being breached in the rush for exclusive news stories.
It has to be said that some of the exclusive reports that appeared in the media recently were wrong, he said.
Our society has always welcomed every new entrant to the already crowded media scene and this reflected our urge for information, said Anoop Jacob, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies. Abdulla Mattanchery, president of district unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), presided.
Mr. Babu opened the e-library project of the Press Club. Mr. Chandy was presented with a caricature of him as a souvenir.
Mayor Tony Chammany; Hibi Eden, MLA; Eldhose Kunnappallil, Ernakulam District Panchayat President; K.C. Rajagopal, president, Manoharan Morayi, general secretary and Abhilash G. Nair, secretary, KUWJ; M.S. Sajivan, secretary, district unit of KUWJ; K.M. Roy, senior journalist; and N. Sreenath, former secretary of district unit of KUWJ, spoke at the function.
