Joy Mathew, Middle East Chief Editor of Amrita Television addressing the media seminar in Doha
By OUR CORRESPONDENT
A media seminar organised jointly by the Doha-based Friends Cultural Centre (FCC) and Indian Media Forum, Qatar, on October 18 has highlighted the challenges facing a free press across the globe.
Delivering the key-note address in the seminar, Joy Mathew, Middle East Chief Editor of the Kochi-based Amrita Television, said the biggest challenge facing a free press in today’s world is the unlimited control wedged by media magnets over the world’s affairs, who use the media to serve their vested interests. He felt that the intrusion of capitalist forces into the media world has turned the media into a mafia. These capitalist forces are using the media even to control the global politics.
The seminar on “Media and the Changing Values” was organised as part of “Qatar Keraleeyam 2009” – a month-long cultural and arts fiesta initiated by FCC. The seminar marked the conclusion of a four-day media workshop, held in cooperation with the Indian Media Forum, Qatar.
Mathew noted that a journalist’s integrity and objectivity would contribute tremendously in upholding moral values in the field of journalism. However, the same moral degradation that affected the society as a whole has affected journalists too. A journalist is compelled to give priority to professionalism, if he is faced with a choice between professionalism and human values. This cannot be described as an erosion of values, he said.
The seminar was inaugurated by Ashraf Thoonery, President of the Indian Media Forum who noted that for journalists, there is no more appropriate time than now to reflect on themselves and be a vanguard of human values.
Speaking on the occasion, Taj Aluva, a media person, said today’s media is equally influenced by public relations companies as it is influenced by the media owners. Independent and professional agencies should take up the job of media watchdogs in order to curb such practices. The growing trends of citizen journalism and independent blog-writing can also help creatively in this regard, he said.
Abdul Hameed Vaniyambalam, Executive Director of Friends Cultural Centre, presided over the seminar which was also addressed by Muhammad Parakkadvu, Mubarak PA, and Pradeep M Menon. MM Radhakrishnan, Treasurer of Indian Media Forum, delivered the welcome speech.