IndiaTomorrow.net,
Bengaluru, June 12: Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari has said that in an open society like ours, we need a responsible press to hold power to account. He was addressing an event to launch the commemorative edition of National Herald, in Bengaluru, Karnataka on Monday.
“The history of journalism in India is closely linked to the history of our freedom struggle. Indian journalists were not mere news providers. They were freedom fighters and social activists, who fought not only to rid India of foreign rule but also to rid our society of social prejudices, casteism, communalism and discrimination,” said the Vice President.
“The Press played an important role in educating, convincing and mobilizing our people. Many founding members of the Congress in 1885 were journalist. The most inspiring of the journals, like Tribune, Hindustan, Leader, Sudharak, Kesari, Akbar-i-Aam, The Hindu and Swadesh were edited by prominent leaders like Tilak, Gokhale, Subramanya Iyer, Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malviya and Agrakar. It was summed up by a poet: Khincho na kamanon ko na talwar nikalo / Jab top muqabil ho to akhbar nikalo.”
“In this age of ‘post-truths’, and ‘alternative facts’, where ‘advertorials’ and ‘response features’ edge-out editorials, we would do well to recall Nehru’s vision of the press playing its role of a watchdog in democracy and look at the ethos and principles that powered his journalism,” he said.
“In an open society like ours, we need a responsible press to hold power to account. This is why freedom of press under Article 19 (1)(A) of the Constitution, is subject only to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, public order, decency, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offence,” said the Vice President.
“The duty of the State is thus clear. A free media is not only beneficial but necessary in a free society. If press freedom is attacked, it will result in the jeopardising of citizen’s rights. When faced with unjust restrictions and the threat of attack, self-censorship in the media can have the opposite effect, aiding the covering up of abuses and fostering frustration in marginalized communities.”
