Media should be wary of the increasing interventions by the police and politicians in its independence, veteran journalist T.J.S. George has said.
He was speaking after accepting the first Kesari Media Award, instituted by the Kesari Memorial Journalist Trust, here on Sunday.
“A situation exists where anything can be controlled by the police. When Malayalam weekly published an interview with a former police chief, the publication was also arraigned as an accused, as a result of a tiff between the police chiefs and between a top politician and the police chief. This is something that can happen to any journalist. We should carry out our journalistic activity in such a way that it is not controlled by the police,” he said.
Mr. George said that the standards of journalism had fallen in recent times owing to corruption and because the media had started taking sides.
“The practice now is to accept money and to publish or not publish news based on it. They also openly take sides now. The main role of the media is in exposing injustice. But when the media itself is part of it, what journalism are you doing?” he asked.
Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who presented the award, said that he was saddened by the ‘public lynching’ that some had to face at the hands of the media.
“As a citizen, I am concerned at this situation which has gone out of control. The attempt is always to attack and tarnish someone, for which even lies are employed. We have still not learned to respect people of talent,” he said.
Shashi Tharoor, MP, commended T.J.S. George for his breadth of knowledge and wisdom.
The Kesari Media Award comprises a purse of ₹50,000, citation, and a statuette designed by artist Bhattathiri.
A jury, comprising filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Asianet editor M.G. Radhakrishnan, Media Academy chairman R.S. Babu, and Kesari Memorial Journalist Trust chairman C. Rahim, selected the award winner.