Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday cautioned media not to morph spirit of inquiry into a campaign of calumny or substitute investigative journalism with witch hunting.
Inaugurating the National Media Centre—built a cost of Rs 60 crore and equipped with modern facilities-along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the PM reminded that credibility is media’s currency. So, it should exercise caution while executing responsibility of free inquiry so as to maintain social harmony and public order.
“A spirit of inquiry must not morph into a campaign of calumny. A witch-hunt is no substitute for investigative journalism. And personal prejudices must not replace the public good,” he said.
He called for mature and wise handling of social media revolution to avoid ‘tragedy’ that befell many innocent people following online propaganda campaign as they were driven across the country to save their lives. Singh was referring to people from North East being targeted in many parts of the country last year.
Media is a reflection of entire society, but at the same time journalism cannot be divorced from business, Singh pointed out.
“The tussle between bottom-lines and headlines is a fact of life for them,” he said but asked media “not to lose sight of their primary directive, which is to hold up a mirror to society and help provide a corrective.” He assured that the UPA government is committed to fostering a free, pluralistic and independent media and bridge ‘Information Divide.’
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said that media faces many paradoxes which all stakeholders ought to collectively resolve them. They include paradox of the short fuse, paradox of TRP qua truth, Media Trials qua a Fair Judicial Trail, increasing intolerance to others point of view, flawed revenue model qua questionable revenue generation practices and how to control virtual media in absence of global rules in this regard.