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Venkaiah for single media watchdog
Context
- Self-regulation is not working and there is growing need for a single watchdog for the television and print media, Vice-President, Press Council of India, Venkaiah Naidu said on the occasion of National Press Day.
The necessity of a watchdog
- There is need for a single watchdog body for both print and television media, however, regulation should not become strangulation.
- The watchdog is necessary to guarantee that political and business interests of the owners of media houses did not affect news.
- News gets increasingly coloured with views that are consistent with the agenda of the management.
- Barring a few honorable exceptions, the press behaved like a handmaiden of the government, therefore a watchdog is a must.
Credibility affected
- Credibility is becoming a rare commodity. One does not know what to believe.
- For a democracy to thrive, free flow of information is essential. Democracy needs information and dissent but it does not mean disintegration.
