The 6th monthly seminar of Khadial Mukta Vichar Manch was held at Khariar on Saturday.
The topic was “Sambadikata re Naitikata ra Abashyakata Achhi kiIJ” Three journalists were chosen to deliberate on the topic. These speakers were Ajit Panda, Khuturam Sunani and Purusottam Singh Thakur. People from different walks of life including women participated in the seminar actively.
“In spite of difficulties and risks in life, journalists perform their best. It has been proved historically that the Press has played a significant role all over the world in the process of change. The role of Press was significant during the Indian war of Independence when morality usually ruled the roost. Everyone knows how the Press stood against the Emergency in post-Independence India. But it has also been seen how the lack of moral standard and ethics in journalism has put a great question mark in the propriety of the fourth estate. There has been a paradigm shift in this profession in terms of integrity, quality and sanctity of news and credibility of facts after the media was reduced to a thing of commerce in the hands of corporates,” said the speakers. “But things everywhere are not the same; there are exceptions where morality and ethics still stands high,” they added.
Khadial Mukta Vichar Manch convenor Shreekant Chatterjee presented his views succsinctly, which was followed by a question-answer session. "The character of media has changed after the lPG (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation) came into force. No one can deny that the moral has gone down. The control mechanism has changed,” said Chaterjee. Reading a passage from Mahatma Gandhi’s writing, he elaborated that there was a time when the journalist was being controlled by the people, but the control now comes from above. “It is time the society thought about it seriously,” he stated.
The Manch has been conducting one seminar every month since December 2017. The organisers informed that the selection of topic is done on the basis of an event of national or international importance in that particular month.
The World Press Freedom Day fell on May 3; thus, the topic this month was on journalism. Dr Fanindam Deo, Sabita Chatterjee, Aditi Agrawal, Jitendra Pattnaik, Noor Md, Kamal lochan Tandi, Sushanta Bisi and Sishir Bishoi were among others who were present.