Mangalore : “Journalists should not try to impose their beliefs on readers. Neither should we try to justify our beliefs. When we do that conflicts arise,” said Shivasubramanya K., group editor, Hosa Diganta, Bangalore.
He was delivering talk on ‘Journalism and Democratic Beliefs,’ organised as part of Press Day by Dakshina Kannada District Working Journalists Union (DKDWJU)and Mangalore Press Club on Wednesday, July 1.
“Over the years ideals of Journalism has undergone tremendous change. Though we talk about Freedom of Press I doubt whether it really does exist in present days as most of the news contents require the approval of management board. Freedom of Management exists now not Freedom of Press,”he added.
Senior Journalists should respect young journalists
“The senior journalists or editors should respect young and budding journalists and their opinion. They should also be open for suggestions of improvements from the young journalists and always motivate them to come up story ideas and also write special stories.” Shivasubramanya K advised.
Maintain distance
“We should not be biased as far as covering political news is concerned. It is always better to maintain a safe distance. If the distance is compromised then it is our defeat. A journalist may consider it to be a matter of pride if some politician keeps hand on his shoulder or might also click two or three photographs for others to see. But when doing that he forgets that we have compromised that distance,”Shivasubramanya cautioned.
“Journalists should always present dual opinions without any fear and think beyond politics.”he added.
“A journalist should always uphold humanity and be neutral. Efforts should always be made to provide justice to people. He/she should always think as to how his organization can play a significant role in providing justice,” Shivasubramanya said.
“It is good to know that journalists are providing support to the protestors who are opposed of Netravati diversion. If the same type of support was provided to the River Cauvery rights activists then Karnataka would not be in dire straits. As the protests went unheard we see that as many as 2,500 lakes in Kolar has dried up, in Tumkur many lakes have disappeared,” he lamented.
“Women journalists in Dakshina Kannada should come up in more number,” he pointed out.
“Young journalists should always make a effort to know the financial system of their District, State and country. If not the entire law system one should always try to possess important legal knowledge,” he added.
“More importantly journalists should have common sense and should not go to the press meets or programmes without preparation.” Shivasubramanya said.
“Journalism has undergone tremendous change due to major technological advancements. We have reached a juncture where we can update news from any corner of the world. However when doing that there is a need of introspection whether we are providing justice. Also we need to gauge how much improvements we have brought in ourselves, our writing and our opinion in span of one year,” said Dr Sandhya S.Pai, managing editor, Taranga,Manipal.
“As journalists we have a responsibility to see how far we have been able to provide justice. One word or sentence written has far reaching impact as it can either make or break a person’s life.”she added.
“We should always try to be unbiased and not impose our opinion as each reader is unique and they have their own opinion,”Sandhya Pai said.
P.B. Harish Rai, president and Srinivas Indaje, general secretary,DKDWJU and Ramakrishna R., president, Mangalore Press Club were also present.
