Govt must act to evolve a suitable media policy: Harsh Dev Singh

Srinagar, Feb 21: Referring to the statements made by several legislators recently in the Assembly seeking higher advertisement rates for certain newspapers and highlighting certain alleged disparities, Harsh Dev Singh, former minister and JKNPP India President observed that a suitable Media Policy needed to be evolved to deal with various facets of journalism, information dissemination and media proliferation.

He said that the Information Department had a much bigger role than circulation of press notes and fixation of rates payable to various media houses and the issue needed to have been debated with all seriousness rather than mere focusing on the payments to be made to media or enhancing the rates of certain selected newspapers. In the present era, when the ‘Right to Information’ has assumed the status of a fundamental right, the print and electronic media, both have a very significant responsibility to ensure authenticity and reliability of the publications made by them, said Singh. He said that media houses which worked impartially needed to be promoted in the interest of democracy rather than supporting those indulging in yellow journalism.

Harsh Dev observed that emphasis in the Assembly ought to have been on code of ethics and regulatory mechanism in the wake of proliferation of media houses, promoting tabloid journalism, selective reporting, spiking etc.

He asserted that certain unbridled media houses not only indulged in yellow journalism by sensationalizing, scandalizing and exaggerating and fabricating stories only to serve some vested interests. There have been reports against several newspapers for distortion of facts and publishing misleading information only to favour a particular group or to damage the other for personal gains, he said.

“There are several reports of huge payments having been made to certain selected media houses for bogus advertisements besides other expensive plots of prime land having been allotted to them by helmsmen only to use them for projecting their ‘larger than life characters’ and promoting their political and personal interests,” he added. With the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, fact based communication, independence, impartiality, respect for others and public accountability having been divorced by many of the media houses, what was more important for legislators was to ensure due observance of canons of journalism by them before acting as their representatives in the Assembly for enhancing the rates payable to them, Singh further said.

Singh said that undoubtedly there were certain fair and unbiased media houses in J&K, but a vast majority needed to be apprised of the National Press Code which laid down the “Code of Ethics” for media as follows, “I shall not in any manner ridicule, cast aspersions, or degrade any person by reason of sex, creed, religious belief, political conviction, cultural or ethnic origin etc”.