CHANDIGARH, SEPTEMBER 24: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today lashed out at the media–the financial media in particular–saying the time had come for journalists to do some soul-searching on how competition had affected quality.
He underlined the lack of accountability in journalism, pointing out how it took just one mistake for an airline pilot or railway man to lose his job.
How many mistakes must a journalist make, how many wrong stories, how many motivated columns before professional clamps are placed? How does the financial media deal with market moving stories that had no basis in fact? Investors gain and lose, markets rise and fall, but what happens to those reporters, analysts, editors who move and make the markets?’’
In the race for capturing markets, journalists have been encouraged to cut corners, to take chances, to hit and run,’’ he complained at the silver jubilee celebrations of Chandigarh Press Club. I believe the time has come for journalists to take stock of how competition has impacted upon quality.’’
The Prime Minister’s criticism of the media comes a day after his office sent a stern letter to the financial papers which carried reports on a meeting with the PMO and intelligence officials on the market which never happened.
The Prime Minister’s Media Advisor Sanjay Baru wrote to the editors of the newspapers saying they could have been misused by motivated persons to move the market.’’
The letter asked the organisations to take note of this and order an internal enquiry’’ as to how these reports appeared in their paper. It goes on to add that the PMO may be apprised of any action taken in this regard.’’
