Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Press Trust of India office here on Saturday in his first visit to any newsroom since he assumed office in 2014, and saw from close quarters the news agency’s newly-launched video service.

During his one-hour stay, Modi interacted with the entire PTI staff in batches, and also spent time with the senior editorial and executive staff, discussing in detail the challenges and opportunities before the media.

The prime minister also showed keen interest in the teleprinter and creed machine, which were once considered cutting edge technology in news transmission.

Walking the length of the entire newsroom at the PTI headquarters, he interacted with all news and non-news verticals of the premier news agency, which was established in 1947 and started operations in 1949. Since then, the agency, owned by a group of newspapers, has been at the centre and forefront of the Indian news space.

Traditionally dominant in text and photos, PTI started its video service in February this year, and in a short span of time has come to be recognised as a major player in the video news agency business.

The prime minister also had a one-on-one chat with PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi and discussed recent political developments and his own political journey.

Modi also signed a visitor’s book and penned a poem on ‘aachaar, vichaar or ab samachar...’, talking about conduct, thought process and news. Modi was presented with an iconic PTI picture that showed him in the midst of a sea of supporters during a roadshow in Varanasi during the 2019 election campaign.