Helping media students on their journey

CHENNAI: “The media must create a balance in society while disseminating information,” said  Dr Srividya Raghavan at an international symposium on ‘Regulating the Media’ hosted by the Young Journalists’ Association School of Media Studies and School of Government and International Affairs of the faculty of Science and Humanities, SRM University. “India is extremely popular in terms of print and broadcast media,” she said, “but the media must meet the expectations of consumers, define journalists’ agenda and, more importantly, strike a balance between freedom of speech and expression in a democracy.” She added that news distortion, bias and dissemination to the masses must be regulated.“The question is whether it is a good news operator and the media needs to introspect on its role in society,” said  Dr Nirmala Lakshman, director of Kasturi and Sons, publishers of the Hindu Group. “Media has fallen prey to corruption, as evident from the current debacle in News Corporation with the phone hacking scandal failing the entire mechanism in the United Kingdom and raising question on ethics and media practice,” she said. Speaking on recent media trends she said, “Television distorts the reality of ordinary people and lifestyles.” She said that media coverage of politics and society should be fair and balanced, and that forced correction was important.With regard to freedom of the press Jennifer McIntyre, Consul General of the United States, said, “The press freedom is directly addressed in the Constitution and as one of the oldest democracies we give prominence to protecting it.” Speaking on the regulations she said, “May 3  is observed as World Press Freedom Day, celebrating the fundamental principles and evaluation of press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on its independence, and to pay tribute to journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.”Ravi Panchamoothoo, chairman of SRM University, contributed to the discussion. He said, “The media should look into good and not bad content while disseminating information to the public, and playing down sensationalism will help.”