THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the technological advancement has made the media to reach out to people with diversified products and even with late-night developments. However, it has to be reviewed as to whether the progress made on the technological fronts has brought any significant change in its content, he said.
He was speaking after presenting the Swadeshabhimani-Kesari Media Award 2017, the highest honour for senior journalists instituted by the Government of Kerala, to veteran journalist, former editor and noted writer TJS George, Editorial Advisor of The New Indian Express, at a function here on Monday.
The fact is that the concept of free and fearless journalism once put forth by veterans like Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai and Kesari Balakrishna Pillai no longer exists, the chief minister said. Social service and responsibility of the press are now toyed with business interests. A section of the media has been playing with the dignity of the press by working to appease power wielders. The media sector has reached a point one cannot accept and the decay has spread very deep in the Indian media, he added.
Paid news and investment alliance between the press and corporates have become an open secret. In this backdrop, honouring a journalist who was put behind bars for leading free and fearless journalism is a proud moment for the state and its people, he said. And TJS is one who cannot be confined to the brackets of a media name that he works for, he added.
Replying to the award presentation, George said what he used to get from the cultural sphere was abuses and punishments. “I am responsible for it as it’s my way of life to get a taste of my own medicine through journalism. But this is the first time that the stick I used for lashing (out) was held by the government and it instead presented a honour to me. But, he said, I was given the award for veteran journalists. It should have been given to me earlier if the age was the matter,” he said.
However, he thanked the government for selecting him for the award instituted in the name of Swadeshabhimani-Kesari as the adventurous style they followed was what they had really taught us, he said. Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan was the chief guest at the function which was presided by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran. The state media awards 2017 and state photography awards 2018 were also presented at the function.