The subject of panel discussion was The Influence of Public Relations on Journalism and the veterans participated were Mr. Vinod Mehta, Editor, The Outlook; Mr. Pankaj Pachauri of NDTV-India; and Mr. Dilip Cherian of Perfect Relations. It was topped by crispy moderation of Mr. Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta. This followed after ceremony of Chameli Devi Jain Award 2010 which was given to Shoma Chaudhari, Editor of Features from Tehalka. She said that the moral weight behind the news coming out of immense hard work always matters. Sometimes neutrality may be misunderstood as an attitude of saying nothing but we have to make our stand clear on the issues of binaries of life; whether we wish to work for the privileged or underprivileged class. She was particularly very critical about the power relations being used to suppress the voice of the people dedicate their life to pronounce the dissent for the injustices done by the privileged. She asserted that discourse has to shift from equity to justice.
Pankaj of NDTV kicked off the discussion by saying that PR firms have made journalists lazy because it is the pressure of the profession and the luxury of the news crafting simplified by many ICT facilities which is making journalism to be prey to the PR culture. It is true that we cannot escape from the 'difficult times' where more and more money is being piled up to sustain the media business, there is shrewd convergence between advertisers, public relation firms, ownership of media platforms and allegiance to corporate firm. Mr. Mehta said that these are the times where we take pride in attacking the politicians. But why we do not question the vested interests of the corporate hegemony. Even though it is very clear that bread and butter of media people is sourced from all these corporate interests, if we decide we can resist any pressure. After all this is the profession where ultimate success lies in the fact that how we can resist temptations unless it leads to serious issue of clash in your office. We have to live with the fact that PR is here to stay and we have to decide how to deal with it courageously.
Press Council investigator Mr. Guha Thakurta intervened to expose newspapers that have indulged in paid news and other kinds of media corruption. The list includes a local Maharashtra supplement of the Times of India, Hindustan of HT
Dilip Cherian tried to unlock the ambiguous layers between news making, business purpose and vested mutual dependence of media and PR firm involve at the same moment. Many times it is the big media houses are responsible for raising the pitch of the TRP and sensationalism in the content business. He also said that many times it is not that journalists are lazy but they have to be forced to listen to the arguments, thought process and passion of particular person or story. PR is not always bad as it can really disseminate the information about the crucial aspects of development, scientific issues and key information to take preventive measures in emergencies.
The work of PR also greatly demands the creativity, immense hard work and consistency in displaying coherence with the client`s goal and aspirations.
All agreed on the suggestion of Pankaj that even though we are in the quagmire of paid news, we should reveal who is paying or sponsoring the program and news being published. Mr. Mehta said that if the PR is allowed to dominate the craft of journalism then there is no need to have a community called journalists. According to him, bigger the firm in the business is, it is more guilty of making interventions in unethical way, so buck does not stop there merely by identifying the problem. This discussion was very much triggered by Paid News Controversy which is being under scrutiny by Press Council of India and other legislative bodies.
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