CHENNAI: Even as he rejected the idea of a separate law to regulate media content, Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash came down heavily on the private television news channels for disseminating noise with an aim to entertain and not to inform or educate.
Delivering a lecture on “Media in India” at the MOP Vaishnav College, here on Monday, he said, “ The agenda for private television channels seems to be entertainment. Sometimes one gets the feeling that one is watching wrestling championships.” Drawing a comparison between the national broadcaster and the private news channels, Surya Prakash said that Prasar Bharati’s objective is to inform, educate and entertain in that order while that of the private players was to create noise as they believed in degrees namely ‘shrill, shriller and shrillest.”
He called on the students to tune into DD for a change and appealed to the public to demand truth and balance from the media by voicing their concern and views on the social media.
As much as he derided the private television news channels, he also had a word of praise for the plurality in news media. He said, “If one news outlet suppresses an event, another might carry it as breaking news. So in this era, citizens will get to know what they ought to know.” He also exhorted the students to equip themselves with the New Media.
Later, talking to Express, Prakash ruled out the need to regulate media content and advocated self-regulation, in its place.