The media’s role in the present context is not constructive as corporate houses are controlling both visual and print media to achieve their goals. This was the observation of speakers at a seminar on the ‘Role of media and democracy in elections’, organised by the Indian Journalists Union and the Karnataka State Journalists Federation here on Thursday.
Media houses had deviated from the basic principles and ethics of journalism, they observed. Paid news was one of the evils haunting the media in recent years, they said.
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Underlining the role of the media in protecting the true spirit of democracy, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Kagodu Thimmappa said healthy democracy must ensure equitable, social, political and economic justice to the common man. He expressed confidence over the media’s strength in bringing about a change in the democratic system.
Member of the Press Council of India K. Amarnath said paid news was hampering democracy and distorting the electoral process. Journalism was a mission during pre-Independence days but later it transformed into a profession. Now, it had become an industry, he said.
President of the IJU S.N. Sinha accused political parties of using the media as a tool to meet their ends. He stressed the need for a free press so that journalists could report with objectivity and frankness, and without any fear. The former secretary-general of the IJU K. Srinivas Reddy said the fight was between the honest and the dishonest in the present-day society. He advised the media to take the lead in exposing corrupt practices to put democracy back on track.
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S.R. Hiremath of Samaj Parivarthan Samudaya and Prithvi Reddy, coordinator of the Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka, also spoke.