The National Press Day was observed by the Odisha Union of Working Journalists (OUWJ) here on November 16. Inaugurating the meeting, ‘The Samaj’ Chief Administrative Officer Dr Pravas Acharya spoke on the topic ‘Freedom of Press and Parliamentary Democracy’.
He said 95% of the ownership of the print and the electronic media in the country are under private ownership and 5% under trusts. Journalists working under political persons and corporate houses are constrained to report the truth. Without impartial reporting, how could freedom of Press remain sacrosanct, he questioned. Chief guest Minister for School & Mass Education Samir Ranjan Dash said a huge hiatus is noticed between the journalists like Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das and such other editors of the pre-Independence era and the journalists of today. When the predecessors knew the value of journalism in proper prospective, the present generation has made a great shift from the tradition. Chief speaker MLA Pratap Keshari Deb questioned that when the freedom of expression is in fetters, where is the freedom of Press in reality.
If the media remains deeply engrossed in making headlines for at least half a month over Aryan Khan’s drug issue neglecting the more deserving news then truthful and unbiased reporting on other salient features of the society is relegated to the background. Does not it amount to trivialising journalism, he posed.
Guest of honour ‘Punya Utkal chairman Manoranjan Mahapatra cautioned media persons to remain away from yellow journalism and the toxic phenomena of paid news. The meeting was chaired by OUWJ president Sugyan Choudhury.