The media should play an important role in waging a cultural struggle to combat feudal and backward ideas, Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju has said.
He was inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Freedom of the press and journalistic ethics' organised by the District Court Bar Association in association with the Barrister M.K. Nambyar Memorial Trust here on Saturday.
The media had the responsibility to fight retrograde ideas and help people in their struggle against poverty and social evils in countries like India, Mr. Katju said.
Observing that the country was in a period of transition, he said reports of ‘honour killings' indicated that the country was still backward. “Our national aim must be to get over this as quickly as possible, reducing the agony which is inevitable in this period of transition,” he said. Calling for serious discussions on freedom of the press and journalistic ethics in the context of the media becoming very prominent and powerful in the country, Mr. Katju said the
‘responsibility of the media' should be part of such discussions.
The freedom of the press had been treated as part of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, while Article 19(2) placed reasonable restrictions on this right for the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, he said. The media was acting for the public by ensuring free flow of information and ideas essential to intelligent self-governance and democracy, Mr. Katju said.
It is essential that the citizens in a democracy should be informed of developments so as to equip them to form rational opinions, he said calling upon the media to show great responsibility to see that the information presented to the people was accurate and relevant. The media should avoid subjective reporting and sensationalism, he said. The media should take a balanced view of pending cases to ensure that judges were not influenced, he said.
He flayed the tendency of the media to give undue importance to frivolous news involving the glitterati and very little prominence to socio-economic issues. “The media should not turn a Nelson's eye to the harsh realities in which over 75 per cent of our people are living, and concentrate on some ‘Potemkin villages' where all is glamour and show biz, Justice Katju asked. The bulk of news coverage in the media went to showing cricket, life of film stars, pop music, fashion parades and astrology, he lamented. High Court judge Thottathil B. Radhakrishan presided over the function. Journalists T.J.S. George and C. Gowridasan Nair, District Judge Thulasi Bhai and bar association president T. Asif Ali were present at the function. The portrait of late senior advocate T.A. Ramadas was unveiled by Justice Katju.
Published - September 04, 2010 08:17 pm IST
