CHENNAI: The core tenet of responsible journalism is reporting only what is seen and heard first-hand by the reporter, Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director of The New Indian Express Group, said on Saturday.
He was speaking at the valedictory session of MOP Vaishnav’s Media Conclave 2019 on Responsible Journalism. He said his vision for the future of journalism was rosy, provided practitioners gave news not views, did not compromise on facts and followed a policy of “fear none and favour none.”

The second day of the conclave began with Kiron Bansal, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and New Media Studies, at IGNOU, addressing the audience on the topic, ‘Journalism Education in India - Can ethics be taught?’ She said ethics was something that can and should be taught with industry examples, so that students make the right, responsible choices when they become working journalists.

The second session of the day saw India Today principal correspondent and Google-certified fact-checker, Akshaya Nath, conducting a workshop on combating fake news. In an interactive session, she educated the audience on various simple and effective methods available to help journalists and common man verify articles, images, videos and other forms of content transmitted through social media.

This was followed by a session with Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, who spoke about “Responsibility function in a news organisation - challenges.” He acknowledged that a news organisation is responsible to multiple stakeholders, but that they are most responsible to themselves and truth.

Veteran journalist and founder of online news channel Chanakyaa, Rangaraj Pandey, spoke on the unique space occupied by the regional news media. He pointed out there was no such thing as ‘regional media’ –  all media is national or even global in scope and influence, thus making all media accountable.

In the session titled ‘Responsible journalism and legal implications,’ Sanjay Pinto, author, lawyer and former resident editor of NDTV 24x7, cautioned the audience that even if responsible journalism is practised, there can be legal implications. He briefed the audience about legal threats and protections available to journalists.

The penultimate session for the day was a captivating panel discussion on ‘Alternative paths to responsible journalism.’ The speakers included Subhashini Dinesh, Deputy Resident Editor, The New Indian Express, who moderated the discussion.