THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The media are “celebrating” news on corruption and immoral acts, Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan has said.
“The media often bypasses core issues and focuses on trivia like whether such acts were exposed as per the norms. Here the core issue and related facts take a backseat,” he said, after inaugurating the ‘mediaperson protection day’ observance organised by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) here on Sunday.
Achuthanandan said that the media which once functioned on high-minded principles now face allegations of “paid news” or “private treaty journalism”.
“When the media publish news for money or as per the whims of a shareholder the truth is lost. This will lead to a situation in which the poor are excluded from the ambit of the media thereby affecting the significance of democracy,” he said.
The veteran leader said there were several instances in which the media published lies or half-truths for increasing circulation or to improve the TAM rating. He asked the visual media to desist from inaccurate reports as “breaking news”.
K Muraleedharan MLA, who was the chief guest at the function, opined that the media is capable to create a good or bad public image for a politician. KUWJ district president Siby Kattampally presided over the function. CITU state vice-president S S Potty, BMS state committee member Govind Bharat, KUWJ state secretary S Sreekumar, district treasurer P Sreekumar and joint secretary K M Basheer spoke.