T T V Dhinakaran a media creation, we’re scared of press: Minister K Pandiarajan

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu culture and archaeology minister KPandiarajan stoletheshow at adiscussion on media freedom in the city,hitting out, gently, at his rival group leader T T V Dhinakaran, calling him a leader createdby the media.

Participating in a paneldiscussion organised by Foundation for Media Professionals andLede, an independent news agency, at Asian College of Journalism, Pandiarajan respondedto a question on accessibility of politicians thus: “TTVDhinakaran is a darling of the media. The media can makeor break a politician.The politicalclassfearsthejournalist.” Pandiarajan, who pointed out there was corruption in both media and politics,wound up calling for a collaboration of the best of people in the two fields.The panelcomprisedtop editors from print and broadcast journalism, including NRam,FayeD Souza,Mukund Padmanabhan, Ravish Kumar and S Karthigaichelvan, as also DMKlegislator PTRPThiagarajan and veteran journalist BRPBhaskar.

Questioning the topic ifthe politicalclasswastrying to render journalism irrelevant, Bhaskar urged journalists to introspectfor an answer. Social media shouldn’t be blamed if journalism hasbecomeless relevant,hesaid. Mukund Padmanabhan disagreed. “Why is the Prime Minister not ready to meet the media? The growing irrelevance is because he can communicatedirectly to the people throughsocial media,” he said.

On whether journalism was under threatfrom state overreach and extremism, the panelistsfelt‘WhatsApp journalism’ was emerging as a major challenge.NRam calledfor unity of journalists at times of attack against them. “When journalists are killed, police discredit theindependentjournalist(unattached to any media house) by resorting to propaganda and don’t report it properly. Not enough is done to focus on the incident,” he said. On the threat of criminal defamation, he pointed out that the neighbouring SriLanka hasdecriminaliseddefamation. Faye D’Souza said the threatsjournalistsfacedonline were not being taken seriously. “Journalists, irrespective of personal opinions, need to come together online to supporteachother,” shesaid.

Ramachandra Murthy, editorial director of Sakshi, earlier said media has become part of the power structure. “It has the power to manufacture dissent and consent. It is also divided on political lines in AP andTelangana,” hesaid. TV journalists Ravish Kumar and Karthigaichelvan were of the opinion that journalism could notbe madeirrelevantby anybody,buttherewas aneedtointrospect.