Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) State general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty has criticised the media for sacrificing national and developmental interests while reporting news events.
Inaugurating a media seminar held at Athanikkal near here on Wednesday as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of MIC Orphanage, Mr. Kunhalikutty warned that the trend would have negative consequences. “Instead of reporting in such a way as to give a push to the SmartCity project, each media organisation carried reports according to its whims,” he said. Mr. Kunhalikutty said that the media would influence the people only to a certain extent.
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Delivering the keynote address, Sebastian Paul, media analyst and former MP, said that the policy of a newspaper or television channel would change in accordance with the policy of its owner. Mr. Paul said that there would be no harm in a media organisation taking a stand. “But, unfortunately, it becomes the stand of the owner,” he said. He said expression of one's opinion was often portrayed as scathing criticism of or attack against someone. “Even references made in journalism classes are reported with vested interests by the media,” he said.
C.P. Saidalavi, associate editor of the Chandrika, moderated the seminar. O. Abdulla, columnist, said that the media had displayed extreme bias when reporting the Rajmohan Unnithan incident. “They (the media) behaved as though they were vengeful against him,” he said. T.V. Ibrahim, IUML leader, also addressed the seminar.