The media is losing its credibility in the pursuit to sensationalise news, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday, The Hindu reported.
“Credibility is becoming a rare commodity,” the former information and broadcasting minister said. “One does not know what to believe. Reporting on the same event, one newspaper declares there was massive gathering, while another carries pictures of empty chairs.”
He made the statements on the occasion of National Press Day while speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Press Council of India.
Naidu pitched setting up a body to regulate how the media works, but stressed that regulations should not become “strangulation”, PTI reported. He pointed out that the Press Council of India was only meant for print media, and that a single watchdog was needed for both print and electronic media to ensure that political and business interests of the owners do not affect news.
“Like the government has no business to be in business, businessmen have no business in journalism,” he said, adding that businessmen and politicians were distorting facts to serve their interests. “Truth should never be sacrificed.”
On the occasion of National Press Day on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that a “free press is the cornerstone of a vibrant democracy”.
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