National Press Day observed
SHILLONG: The media fraternity of Shillong on Saturday observed National Press Day by organising an interactive session on the theme ‘Reporting-Interpretation: A journey’ here in the city as prescribed by the Press Council of India.
Initiating the session, former PTI correspondent, Islamabad and present foreign affairs editor of the Hindustan Times Rezaul Hasan Laskar said journalists have special skills and that there is no such thing as a citizen journalist.
Laskar, who is also a former employee of The Shillong Times, said, “There is no such thing as a citizen journalist. You can or can’t be a journalist”. He also stated that people can be bloggers but that does not make them journalists.
“There is no quality control, check and balance for citizen journalists,” he said.
Talking about new technology, he said that technology can be facilitating and it can even be dangerous even as he encouraged journalists to get used to new tools.
Stating that journalists must be objective while telling their stories, he added that the media is grappling with challenges as magazines are winding up while print media is under pressure.
The founding member of the Shillong Press Club and Padma Shri awardee Manas Chaudhuri said that reporters who file their stories must know their audiences.
He said that the media is carrying stories about what the Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition said about the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act and that there is a need to inform the readers about the actual content of the Bill.
While encouraging journalists to refuse to accept easy information given to them, Chaudhuri said that a journalist needs to be a crusader against the abuse of authority and a tutor of the nation.
He also said that journalists need to be more courageous and raise tough questions without being arrogant even as he admitted that newspapers are feeling the crunch after the GST implementation in the country. In his address to the gathering, Information and Public Relations Minister, AL Hek said that journalists should be honest and must write correct stories.
Terming the fourth estate as the protector of democratic institutions, he added that the media fraternity in Shillong has always had a positive effect on the state government.
He also informed that the I&PR department is in the process of initiating a pension scheme for retired working journalists and said that the new building of the department is ready.
“The new Press Club will be inaugurated soon,” he said.