HYDERABAD, AUGUST 21: Indicating that he did not share Andhra CM Y S R Reddy’s view that the media should have no interaction with banned Maoist organisations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that any political group can use the media to convey its views.
Stressing that a free press is the ultimate check’’ against the tyranny’’ of authority, Singh said the media is like a mirror’’ that enables those in power to get a reality check continuously.
This is an important national asset and a pillar of strength for our democracy which has been made richer by the plurality of our free Press,’’ Singh said after inaugurating a national seminar on Press and the Nation’ organised by Prajasakti, a CPI(M) Telugu daily.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy, however, deplored the trivialisation, glamourisation and sensationalisation’’ that have "come to characterise the media". With mushrooming TV channels and newspapers, the volumes have gone up. But I am afraid the values have not,’’ he said, adding that comments and facts are getting intertwined’’.
CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury called upon the media to focus on issues that have a bearing on the lives of common people. CM Reddy and Union Minister for Mines and Coal D Narayana Rao were present on the occasion.
