Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said “paid news” has become a menace and a weakness for society today. He emphasised that newspapers should use their power to influence society wisely for the benefit of the people, PTI reported.
“When the freedom [of the press] is misused and expression becomes distorted and dangerous and you overstep, the law will have to step in,” Naidu said an event to launch the New Delhi edition of Marathi daily Lokmat. He asked the media to exercise freedom with responsibility.
“Information with confirmation is great ammunition,” the vice president said, according to IANS. “Without confirmation, it remains gossip and can lead to dangerous rumour-mongering.”
Naidu urged media houses to focus on sensibility in their news coverage rather than promoting sensationalism. He called for opinions to be restricted to the editorial pages of newspapers and for the media to respect the sentiments of the public.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Birendra Singh were also present at the event. Singh said the media had a very important role to play in democracy, and “more so in our times” when various kinds of pressure is used to curb press freedom.
Kejriwal said freedom of the press has always faced challenges. “In present times, those challenges have not reduced,” he added.
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