PRESS INFORMATIONBUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
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Vartalap- Media Workshop held at Ramagundam
Ramagundam, March 5
Media shoulddevelop a positive attitude as well rather than viewing everything from theprism of negativity as their duty was to act as a bridge between people and theGovernment apart from the questioning role, observed former Commissioner ofRight To Information and Editorial Director of Sakshi Group, Dileep Reddy.
He wasspeaking at Vartalap, a programme organized by the Press Information Bureau(PIB) for rural journalists of Ramagundam at the NTPC auditorium here onSaturday.
Mr. Reddyfelt the journalists have become too negative in their thought process andthere was a need to report the positive aspects of the Government so thatpeople can benefit out of them. “We anyway have to expose the misdeeds of theGovernment but at the same time people have a right to know the schemeslaunched by the Government for their benefit,” he said. He said journalistsneed refresher courses like any other professionals and they should realise itfast as their writings are under scrutiny by the emerging media. The emergenceof social media has increased theresponsibility of mainstream media, he said adding that India was the onlycountry where print media will continue to play key role in the developmentprocess.
Vishnu S.Warrier, ASP of Ramagundam, who was the chief guest, said media as the fourthpillar of the democracy has a great responsibility in disseminating the rightinformation to the people.
Stating thathe has great respect for media, he said the relationship between media andpolice was like husband and wife relationship and they have to work togetherdespite the emerging frictions in their professional relationship sometimes. Herecalled how one positive story about his efforts to unearth a coal mine haseffectively increased support to him from the higher ups.
The NTPCRamagundam Executive Director, P.K. Mohapatra recalled the role of media in buidinggreat institutions like NTPC and other public sector undertakings in thecountry.
The PIB HyderabadDirector, TVK Reddy explained the activities taken up by the PIB indisseminating information to journalists from the national capital to ruralareas. He explained how the PIB was a source of rich information on theGovernment schemes and also how the information was now being made available inthe regional languages for the benefit of rural journalists.
About 150 journalistsfrom Karimnagar district participated. They were all given certificates by thePIB.