New Delhi: Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar disapproved Monday the recent trend of ‘TRP-centric journalism’. Prakash Javadekar said meters installed in 50,000 houses cannot measure the opinion of crores of people. The minister also asserted that the freedom of press has to be preserved at any cost in a democracy. However, the media should remember that freedom comes with responsibility.
“TRP-centric journalism is not good. The meters installed in 50,000 houses cannot measure the opinion of 22 crores. We would expand its circumference so that we know what the people watch and what they wish to watch,” Javadekar said at an IIMC event.
The minister advised media students not to be trapped in sensational or TRP-centric journalism. He asked them to imbibe the skills of healthy journalism, ensuring that anything good happening in society also becomes news.
Javadekar was inaugurating the orientation programme of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) for the academic session 2020-21. He stressed people should welcome the change emerging in the education sector through digital technology and draw benefit from it.
The minister said that the freedom of press has immense value in a democracy and it has to be preserved at any cost. “But we should keep in mind that freedom comes with responsibility. Therefore, every one of us has to be responsible. As a journalist, you understand both the aspects of the story, but your reporting should lead society in the right direction,” he said at the virtual event.
The minister said journalism is a responsibility, ‘not a tool to mislead people’. “There is no need for any drama or sensation if your story is based on facts. There are plenty of constructive stories in society, but sadly nobody in the media has time to publish them,” asserted the minister.
Javadekar said the first lesson of journalism is that everything impacting the lives of people is news and it should find adequate space in the media. In this regard, he listed several schemes of the central government that have helped citizens.
