Regulatory authority must for media: TJS George

KOZHIKODE: Pitching for the regulation of media by an external body, veteran journalist T J S George has said that media in the country should come under a press regulatory authority.

He said this during an interactive session with the journalism students on the sidelines of a state-level workshop on ‘Media - Changing times’, being held on CIGI campus, Chevayur, on Friday.

He further said that like the Bar Council, which controls the lawyers, an authority of some kind or the other is in place to regulate every other field except the media. Media should also come under a regulatory body.

Earlier, inaugurating the two-day workshop organised by the Kerala Press Academy in association with Calicut Press Club, the veteran journalist said that like politicians trying to justify their unrighteous practices as lawful, media is engaged in institutionalising the injustices in the name of profit.

“The profession of journalism has now become a better opportunity for those willing to accept bribe. The Nira Radia episode has exposed many ‘political brokers’ who were thought to be the super stars in the media,” he said.

He said the soul of a newspaper is the editor and many of the present-day dailies do not have an editor at all.

“The decline of values in the media sector can be directly attributed to this stand of not having an editor for the newspaper,” he said. N.P.Rajendran, Chairman of the academy presided over the inaugural function. More than 100 journalism students from all parts of the state participated in the two day workshop. Ammu Joseph, C. Gouridasan Nair, Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, M P Basheer, Dr. Vinod Bhattathiripad, Mahesh Mangalat presented papers.