Legal Editor talks on media, judiciary
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 31 2018:
Legal Editor of The Tribune, Satya Prakash, has said that people involved in judiciary services and media persons must be properly aware of their respective functioning under the Constitution of India so as to avoid unwanted conflicts between the judiciary and the media.
Speaking to media persons during a lecture programme on 'Media and Judiciary' at the auditorium of the High Court of Manipur as a part of its 5th anniversary observation, today, Satya Prakash claimed that there have been frequent conflicts between the two important pillars of democracy, the judiciary and the media, due to practices and publishing norms beyond the framework of the Constitution.
He also mentioned that the role of the media is to inform, propagate and entertain the people while the role of the judiciary is to seek truth.
Both judiciary and the media need to be kept independent for maintaining proper democratic system and the media sometimes, acts as a watchdog in a democratic country like India and the judiciary acts as the interface of the society, he informed and added that both institutions complement each other and both have equal roles in protecting democracy.
Satya Prakash explained that the role of judiciary is to seek the truth while that of media is to gather information from the source to highlight problems, conflicts, controversies and facts.
If media happens to misreport anything, it invites conflict with the judiciary As such, media needs to be careful while publishing or broadcasting news and creating high power issues is not good for media, he added.
Stressing on the importance of cordial relationship between media and the judiciary, Satya Prakash explained that frequent interactions between Judges and media persons are very much required.
Giving the keynote address at the event, Acting Chief Justice High Court of Manipur, N Kotiswar Singh also stressed on the importance of a cordial relationship between the media and judiciary and said that both judiciary and the media should be kept independent to ensure the success of democracy.
On the other hand, Registrar General, High Court of Manipur, mentioned that in the modern society, it has become necessary for media persons of the State to become aware of the legal aspects on reporting and publishing since media is the fourth estate of democracy.
Kh Nobin Singh, Justice High Court of Manipur, N Kumarjit Singh, Advocate General, O Modhuchandra Singh, Chairman of Bar Council Manipur and HS Paonam, president of High Court Bar Association as well as members of Editors' Guild Manipur, media persons, Judges and lawyers were also present at the event.