Chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) Justice Markandey Katju said on Monday the “people’s movements” launched by social activist Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev would not bring in any consequential change as they did not have any scientific basis.
At a “Meet-the-Press,” organised by the Chandigarh Press Club, Justice Katju went on to draw an analogy with “circus shows” for these movements. He was of the opinion that it would take at least 10 years for a holistic approach to weed out corruption from the system.
Handing down an advice to the media, especially the visual channels, he said the occasion demanded that journalists performed their duties more professionally, through proper accountability and responsibility towards the overall good of society.
For the owners of media houses, he said that profit should not be earned at the cost of social responsibility.
Reiterating his demand for more powers to the PCI, Justice Katju said his meeting with the Prime Minister was yet to bear fruit.
In case the electronic media didn’t bring in accountability and responsibility in its functioning, the government may one day bring in a Bill that imposed complete control, instead of some regulations that were being debated currently.
When the rest of other professions, including the judiciary, were subject to regulations under the statute, the media could not be left alone.
Wage board issue
Justice Katju said though the case of implementation of the recommendations of the Majithia Wage boards for journalists was sub judice , media houses need to understand that the “contract regime” would ultimately prove detrimental to the profession.
