‘People-centric issues, not personality cults, should be media’s focus today’
Capt Amarinder, who is a military historian himself, dwelt on the challenges faced by newspapers from social media. “Times are changing. Whatsapp and Facebook are taking over. People like me will continue to read newspapers, but it’s not clear what coming generations will do. Newspapers will have to work to stay a step ahead. I am sure you are putting your heads together on this,” he said.
Khattar said political rivals keep indulging in blame game, but newspapers should rise above developing personality cults. “Governments keep changing. Instead of comparing personalities, the media should highlight comparisons between the systems followed by different governments and their people-centric initiatives. This will inspire and encourage governments to learn from good practices of others,” said the Haryana chief minister before listing a slew of reforms initiated by his government.
Badal, a five-time former CM, said newspapers needed to focus on agriculture, peace and communal harmony.
“About 65% of people depend on agriculture, but the sector does not get enough attention. Also, the country and the state cannot be successful unless there is peace and communal harmony,” he said. He termed the recent incidents of rape as “shameful” and demanded that rapists should be hanged.
Earlier, HT editor-in-chief Sukumar Ranganathan while welcoming the guests said HT was privileged to be the chronicler of the journey of many of the states in the region. “As we stand here, we stand at a very critical juncture for journalism itself. You don’t just have fake news. You have instant fake news. In this, a clear, credible, sane, trustworthy voice is what people look forward to. Our goal at Hindustan Times is to provide across platforms an unbiased, clear-minded journalism,” he said. HT executive editor Ramesh Vinayak delivered the vote of thanks.