ProMASS News Bureau: Sep 01, 2016: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said, media serve as an effective ammunition in combating poverty, corruption and terrorism. In his address after inaugurating the Regional Editors Conference this morning in Chennai, organized by the Press Information Bureau, he appealed media to be far away from sensationalism and nearer to truth.
However, Mr Naidu insisted that there should be a balance between freedom of expression and national safety and security. He advocated self-regulation by media houses keeping the interests of the nation and said any criticism is acceptable if it is genuine and while criticizing shortcomings, it is also necessary to portray positive developments.
Mobilizing public support for development activities by governments is possible through media, he said and termed the media as a conduit between the government and the public, as law makers are able to gauge the sense of the public through people’s reactions appearing in it.
He informed the media that he has asked the authorities of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to formulate a national policy on information and communication for the Union Government, as media is an effective component in any meaningful governance.
Noting that the media landscape has undergone vast change due to technological advancements, Minister Venkaiah Naidu said social media has emerged as a powerful and economical media tool to convey government initiatives for the development of the nation and also to assess public reactions on policies and programmes of governments.
Quoting various studies on the patronage for various media platforms undertaken by global consultancy firms, Minister Venkaiah Naidu said print media is registering impressive growth in India though globally its readership is dwindling due to advancement of digital media. Print media has clocked nine percent growth last year compared to the previous year in terms of readership and 9.5 percent in terms of advertisement revenue.
Community FM radio is also witnessing encouraging trend and vernacular press with its remarkable ability to localize its contents is charting on a growth path, said Mr Naidu.
The inaugural session of the Regional Editors Conference has been attended by the Tamil Nadu Minister for Information and Publicity Kadambur Raju, Director General of Press Information Bureau Frank Noronha and other senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
