The media should put society’s interest first over any special sectional interest, said N. Ravi, Director, Kasturi and Sons Limited, in the city on Friday.
He was speaking at the inauguration of a colloquy on Media and Social Responsibility organised by the D.G. Vaishnav College. Stating that social responsibility was an elusive concept, like other concepts such as public or national interest, he said that there could be as many definitions or ideas of social responsibility as there are people addressing the issue.
Stating that the media landscape was in a state of flux, he said that earlier newspapers were disrupted by the arrival of radio and television. Then, television was affected by the Internet and now social media and mobile applications had taken over.
Mr. Ravi said that a vast amount of information was available at the touch of the screen for a reader or viewer and there was an information overload.
“However, the ease with which information can be put on the Internet, the anonymity it provides, and the speed at which comments are made and opinions are formed also gave room for fake news and unverified reports and comments not based on facts,” he said, adding that in this context the role of the journalist in verifying and organising information became critical. With competition from television, Internet and mobile applications, newspaper websites and newspapers come under immense time pressure. “The challenge is not to compromise on verification and meticulous regard to truth under time pressure,” said Mr. Ravi.
Newspapers were better placed than television channels to analyse and place in context so that people can make sense of developments. “In most cases, the same journalist will write for mobile application instantly, for the website after some time and the newspaper ultimately after some reflection. At all these stages, he should ensure the facts are verified carefully,” he added, stating that while the media may operate on different platforms, the commitment to truth telling should be the primary responsibility of a journalist.
Speaking at the event, Shekhar Gupta, founder, The Print, said that there was no bigger social responsibility for a journalist than to speak the truth. “Today the state of media is such that speaking the truth gets you nothing. Now, in order for media to be successful, you have to speak manufactured fiction,” he said.
Debates on identity, on profiling of any ethnicity, religion, region or linguistic group and demonising them was very dangerous as it had the ability to break up the country, he added.
G. Ravindran, head of the department, Journalism/ Mass Communication, University of Madras, also spoke.
