Sunday, January 24, 2010

Media should introspect to give right direction to the Society

November 16, 2009



A Seminar on 'Changing Face of Indian Media' was organized here today to mark the National Press Day Celebrations by the Information and Public Relations Department. Shri Vibhuti Narayan Rai, Vice Chancellor, International Mahatma Gandhi Hindi University Wardha and Shri Ramesh Vinayak, Resident Editor, Hindustan Times were main speakers on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Vibhuti Narayan Rai said that media should adopt self control and self discipline in order to perform its duties more efficiently and diligently. He said that in the past two decades, the ethics and values of the society had changed considerably and media could play an important role in upholding the meaningful traditions.

Shri Rai said that some times media sensationalize issues which was harmful for the society as a whole. It should be responsive to the Society. There should be a self imposed Code of Conduct in the larger interest of the society. He said that censorship is harmful for the freedom of Press and media should not create a situation in which censorship become inevitable. He said that self imposed code of regulation is the need of the hour and any body violating it should be dealt with stringently by the fraternity itself.

Shri Rai said that in the changed scenario the newspapers had become a commodity and brand which was unfortunate. He said that more importance was being given for business side in the media how it can maintain freedom in such a situation.

Shri Vibhuti Narayan said that media should take an introspection and think where it was going and some body will have to come forward to take it in right direction.

He also lauded the media for exposing various scandals and added that it was due to the media that various wrongs had been set right.

2 comments:

Dr Vidyasagar Sriramoju MD said...

Before you sling mud on the VC Mr. Vibhuti Narain Rai consider ... 1. Whether the recent Hindi women writers he quoted promoting & pushing sexually explicit material in to main stream literature in the name of women liberation. 2. Emancipation of women is not voicing support to female sexual promiscuity because in Indian society Male promiscuity tolerated while for women it is abhorred, truth is civilized societies promiscuity of both men and women is equally abhorred. 3.With the epidemic HIV, plaguing Indian society due to limited awareness & killing millions we cannot afford to give main stream endorsement for such explicit sexual literature because it sends wrong message to majority of youth. 4. Struggles for scientific education, technical training, social role, human rights, and employment issues for women are the major themes for Women liberation, eg. Gorky’s 'Mother', Tagore’s poem 'Upagupta'. Because they cannot sell decent works for Big bucks, either female / male writers MUST NOT promote sexually explicit material for money sake.

Mahendra Singh said...

On the risk of being condemned as Mr Rai is, I am afraid to say that yes...most of the Indian Hindi literature written by women writers is nothing but celebration of their sexual freedom. There is nothing wrong in this, as men have been doing it for ages so why not women...But the main problem with such writing is that this kind of writing (which is only centered around liberation of body) does not liberate minds and does not address most other bigger problems of women in general, it rather confuses them and confine them to the celebration of their sexuality. Again, they end of being prayed by men, may be on their own terms, but its nothing but being entangled in the complex net created by much cleverer men. And in my opinion Mr Rai wanted to say same thing, but in more rustic language not expected from a person at his level. But before slamming him or after slamming him for the way he said it, we must understand the meaning between the lines and acknowledge the fact that so called feminist movement in India has not taken women to any better place. There are still Manu Sharmas who are victimizing women everyday and every night....so women have to understand and find out other means to liberate and empower themselves than just celebrating their sexuality.

Dr. Mahendra Singh, Ph.D.
Philadelphia
USA
mahendragbc@gmail.com