Media house with other business interests becomes vulnerable to external pressures: CJI Ramana
Underlining the importance of independent journalism in a democracy, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Tuesday urged the media to “confine itself to honest journalism without using it as a tool to expand its influence and commercial interests”. called upon.
The CJI said that “when a media house has other business interests, it becomes vulnerable to external pressures. Often, business interests take over the spirit of independent journalism. As a result, democracy gets compromised.” He was speaking at the release of a book titled ‘The Gita Vigyan Upanishad’ authored by Gulab Kothari, President, Rajasthan Patrika Group.
Addressing the gathering, CJI Raman said, “Independent journalism is the backbone of democracy. Journalists are the eyes and ears of the public. Presenting the facts is the responsibility of the media houses. Especially in the Indian social scene, people still believe that whatever is printed is true. All I want to say is that the media should confine itself to honest journalism without using it as a tool to expand its influence and business interests.
Recalling that “only media houses without commercial stuff were able to fight for democracy in the dark days of Emergency”, he said, “the true nature of media houses will certainly be assessed from time to time, and Appropriate conclusion will be drawn by his conduct during the trial time”.
“There was healthy competition among journalists to do stories of great public interest”, the CJI recalled of his brief period of working as a journalist.
He continued: “I’m sure there are journalists who are equally enthusiastic in today’s media. But after taking a risk and putting in a lot of hard work and energy, a brilliant story filed by a journalist would have been kicked to the desk.” It is demoralizing for a true journalist. You cannot blame him, if they face such situations again and again, they lose faith in the profession.”
The CJI said that “India still has a major gap when it comes to systemic support for journalists”.
Pointing out that India “still has no Pulitzer prize equal to” nor “do we produce many Pulitzer-winning journalists”, he urged “stakeholders to introspect whether our standards have international recognition”. Why is not considered enough for and laurels”.
