Seminar on journalism at OIL golden jubilee celebration

DIBRUGARH, Feb 16: The tragedy of present day journalism is that we have failed to create a discerning readership. There is a lack of radical thinking which is necessary to make an impact on society. Professor Emeritus Amaresh Dutta said this in his inaugural speech during the seminar on ‘journalistic ethics and its implementation’ held at Dibrugarh today. The programme is part of the concluding functions of the OIL golden jubilee celebrations. Axom Xahitya Xabha president Dr Nagen Saikia moderated the seminar which was attended by BBC’s bureau chief for East and Northeast India Subir Bhaumik and noted journalist Wasbir Hussain as resource persons. Dutta went on to talk about the challenges faced by print media and the adverse influence of electronic media on it. He said that newspapers had a tremendous responsibility to play in society. Wasbir Hussain dwelt on the basics of good journalism like credibility, accountability and professionalism. He brought up the ethical issues the media have to take into consideration while covering news. In his speech, Subir Bhaumik emphasized that journalistic ethics was good investment and made good business sense. He stated that journalists derived their power from the trust of readers and only maintaining high standard of ethics could win them the credibility. The BBC’s bureau chief for East and Northeast India stressed on the importance of research and cross checking facts. He said that questions of ethics were incomplete without the involvement of the management. Local mediapersons and OIL officials actively participated in the interactions that followed the speeches of the resource persons. source: the sentinel assam