Sensationalism,biased reporting new lows of Indian media: PM

Singh says the media has the responsibility to "expose" corruption,"advise" the government.

IDENTIFYING sensationalism,trivialisation,prejudiced reporting and corruption as the new “lows” in the Indian media,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked the media to introspect and exercise a “degree of self-regulation” even as he underlined that censorship was not a solution.

While pointing out that the media has the responsibility to “expose” corruption,”advise” the government and even “reprimand” it when it goes wrong,the PM said it should not,however,be “all gloom and doom” and “positive news” should be given its due share.

Singh was addressing a gathering here after releasing a book,The Tribune 130 Years: A Witness to History, written by historian V N Dutta which records the 130-year-old history of The Tribune newspaper.

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On the “inevitable highs and lows” in the media today,Singh pointed out that there was “sensationalism,driven by a desire to sell a story at any cost… there are stories without a clear understanding of the underlined issues. There is reporting which is prejudiced. There is trivialisation of important matters. There is corruption. The prevalence of the practice of ‘paid news’ exposed recently has come as a shock to all right-thinking people.”

He,however,made it clear that his government believes in “complete independence of the media from external control”. “It is for the members of the Fourth Estate themselves to collectively ensure that objectivity is promoted and sensationalism is curbed,” he said.

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