World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on May 3 worldwide. It is taken as an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. The press has emerged to be an important domain of our society and has been termed as Media. Besides a new name, it is also called the fourth pillar of democracy. With corporate houses and politicians owning the media houses, the role of media (both print and electronic) has shifted from value-based journalism to its meaningless and absurd usage. However, on this day, the media houses should introspect whether or not they play their role for which the media or press was known for.
Mohd Ziyaullah Khan
Nagpur, M’rashtra